Starting today, the 21,500 Basques who reach the age of majority this year can benefit from the Youth Culture Bonus launched by the Ministry of Culture and Sports. There are 400 euros that can be requested through the website www.bonoculturajoven.gob.es and that must be used to purchase products ranging from theater to music festivals, through literature and video games, among many others. In Euskadi, if all those entitled to aid request it, the investment will amount to 8.6 million euros. There are those who can get carried away by prejudice and think that most are going to spend their money on video games, but that would be a mistake. First, because only part of the money can be devoted to this section and, second, because those of that age have far more cultural and leisure concerns than many adults believe.
Fernando Bayón, director of the Institute of Leisure Studies at the University of Deusto, knows this well. “After the group of those over 70 years of age, they are the ones who spend most of their leisure time supporting third-sector activities, collaborating on disinterested projects,” he exemplifies. And in terms of culture, “the age range of 18 to 28 years is the best informed of the activities there are.” Not to mention that adolescents and post-adolescents “are giving a huge boost to the publishing sector”, which is experiencing a considerable rise in sales. Of course, the formats and ways of reading have changed.
«It is read to share. It is no longer just a solitary act, but something that happens within a community”, describes Bayón. New behaviors that publishers are knowing how to take advantage of. Gemma Vilagis, editor at Montena and Random Comics at Penguin Random House, confirms the ‘boom’ as a result of the confinements and the appearance of new spaces for reading and writing. “During the pandemic, sales increased a lot and platforms like Wattpad appeared that have brought about a considerable change,” she says. These are online spaces where writings can be posted on which any user can comment. “The story is created online, they are shared on TikTok or Instagram, for example, and it grows as a community,” explains Vilagis, who confirms that these new access points are also fishing grounds in which publishers “fish” for new authors. “Many of their online readers then buy the books.”
In other areas, on the contrary, the youngest do not finish appearing. Is it just for the money? Fernando Bayón assures that no. From the studies of the institute that he directs, it can be deduced that 80% of Basque kids are interested in cultural activities, but only 60% attend. «When asked why, it is curious, because the price is not the main barrier to not going to a concert or the theater, for example. The first reason they wield is the lack of adequate company; the second is usually money and the third, lack of time », he details.
And the passage of the coronavirus has also influenced this. “Most assure that what the pandemic has changed their cultural habits the most is in the formation of groups, with whom they do what they would like and what they used to do.” The traditional gang, unique and immutable, has been atomized into different groups constituted according to what is done with each one.
Falls for the Opera
Aware of these changes, some cultural institutions and companies are taking steps to attract them. This is the case of the ABAO Ópera Bilbao, which since the 2016-17 season has organized Gazteam, a community “created by and for those under 30 with the aim of bringing them closer to the world of opera through different activities and benefits”.
«It arose because we saw that among the reasons for not going there was, in addition to the price, that a boy or a girl might like this genre, but, since most people their age don’t usually come because they are the rare ones, the different and do not dare. So we created the ‘meetings’”, argues María Luisa Molina, director of management of the organization. This season there are 222 people under 30 years of age who, in addition to enjoying very favorable prices to see the performance, have the opportunity to meet the conductor, visit the artists or see the dressing rooms. “Then they make plans to go out for a drink together,” she reveals.
A percentage of the Cultural Bonus will, of course, be used to finance video games in physical and digital format, something that should not be underestimated either. This type of entertainment «can lead them to read, to the cinema or to carry out other practices in the public space. They are a form of socialization and in many cases they are practiced in a group and are the hook for a healthier and more active social life for many kids”, remarks Fernando Bayón, who concludes with a recommendation for cultural companies. “Surely young people are not going to pound theater box offices to buy tickets for the next opera or theater season, but that does not mean that with some recruitment campaign those who otherwise would not go do not come or are encouraged. ».
A KEY BREAKDOWN
200 euros:
This amount is allocated to the section on live arts, cultural heritage and audiovisual arts. For example, tickets and subscriptions for performing arts, live music, cinema, museums, libraries, exhibitions and scenic, literary, musical or audiovisual festivals.100 euros:
It is the amount that can be invested in cultural products in physical format: books; magazines, newspapers, or other periodicals; video games, sheet music, records, CD, DVD or Blu-ray.100 euros:
They must be for digital or online consumption. Includes subscriptions and rentals on musical, reading or audio-reading, or audiovisual platforms, purchase of books, subscription to online video games or to newspapers and periodicals.
And you, what will you invest the money in?
“For Philharmonic concerts and books”
Mireia Melliz. 18 years since April
“I find the idea highly praiseworthy because it brings culture closer to many people and culture is a fundamental basis for society because it helps to generate critical thinking,” Mireia Melliz proclaims with very clear ideas. Pianist and reader interested in everything that has to do with philosophy and law, this girl from Bilbao will invest her 400 euros in “tickets to see the Philharmonic, buy classical music records and go to the theater”. «It will also allow me to buy books or go to the opera… For me the voucher is a gift that gives many people my age the opportunity to access cultural products that they would not otherwise be able to enjoy or that they would only opt for go to discos”.
–But, don’t they say that young people are only interested in playing video games and things like that?
– I like them too, but I prefer to use this gift in ‘real culture’.
«I would like to combine music and cinema»
Pablo Oses. 18 years in December
«The money would be invested in concerts and festivals. I consider myself passionate about all kinds of music and I think he would go down that path. Another of my great hobbies is the cinema. Therefore, I think I would combine both ‘hobbies’». This is the plan of Pablo Osés, a Vitorian who will reach the age of majority and who from September will study the degree of health emergencies. And he already has two very specific concerts in mind.
“I know that Tiago PZK and Melendi will be performing nearby in the coming months and I would love to be able to enjoy their songs, because tickets are quite expensive and difficult to obtain,” admits Osés. In addition, “as I start a new stage in September, I would like to use part of the money to buy books and material that will help me to better understand what my future profession will be.” So for this young man the idea of the bonus, which he describes as “very interesting” could not come at a better time.
“I will buy tickets for a big festival”
Gorka Romero. 18, in November
With his Bachelor’s degree just finished and his sights set on “accessing a degree that has to do with electricity and then going to ‘Uni'”, this young resident of Portugalete looks at the bonus with some mistrust. “The measure seems like a good idea to me, but I think it has a lot to do with getting votes,” he says before pointing out that “this is my personal opinion, huh.” All in all, he will take advantage of the help because it is “an opportunity to buy tickets for a big music festival like Mad Cool.” “I would love to go to Tomorrowland, but that’s in Belgium and I don’t think I’ll get there. Then I will also get tickets for smaller concerts », he reveals.
Some of your 400 euros will be to buy tickets for the cinema. And the rest? “Well, I haven’t thought about it yet, but I’m sure something will come up. They will be things that I would not otherwise be able to access », he acknowledges.
“What I want most is to go to the theater”
Irati Anton. 18 years since February
A few months after starting her studies in the double degree in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication, this Bilbao native, who came of age last February, is very clear about what she is going to allocate an important part of the 400-euro bonus. “What I most want is to go to the theater because for me the tickets are expensive and when I have been able to go it is because my mother has invited me,” she admits.
Nor will he disdain buying passes to go to the movies, or buying a few books. Like many his age, he values with special enthusiasm being able to share activities with his friends. «Since they also have the possibility of requesting the bonus, we can meet to go to something together. That is one of the things that I like », she says. And what else? Well, discarding video games, “which I don’t like very much”, Irati opts to take advantage of part of the aid to “be able to pay some subscriptions to digital platforms.”