28th March 2024
Ministry of Culture and Sport
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Spain’s €400 ‘Youth Culture Voucher’ officially launched

The Spanish government has this week officially launched the application process for its ‘Bono Cultural Jóven’, the Youth Culture Voucher worth €400, and which was first announced back in October 2021. The cultural aid for young people was finally approved by parliament in March this year and has taken a further four months to be launched.

The aid represents €210 million of Spain’s general state budget and it is estimated that almost 500,000 young people throughout Spain could benefit from it, individually receiving €400 to be used for the purchase and enjoyment of cultural products, services and activities.

Applications for the voucher opened on Monday 25 July and will run until 15 October.

The €400 voucher, which will be valid for 12 months after it is granted, was conceived as a way to promote and help revitalise the Spanish cultural sector after the problems suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to help young people enjoy cultural products that they may have missed during this time.

Spain’s ‘culture voucher’ plan follows similar schemes in Italy and France, where governments have distributed €500 and €300 bonuses respectively for young people to spend on culture.

Who can receive Spain’s culture voucher?

Only those who turn 18 years old in 2022 are able to access the grant. Those who turned 18 in 2021 will not qualify. At the moment, it is therefore only open to those who were born in 2004. 

The voucher is available to those with Spanish nationality, as well as legal residents and refugees. In order to qualify, it is necessary to prove your date of birth and residency status, such as a DNI, TIE or green residency document.

The Spanish government has said that it hopes to repeat the aid programme during 2023, so those who are not old enough to receive the grant this year could be eligible  next year. 

What can the voucher be spent on?

The voucher is divided into three sections:

€200 can be spent 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 can be spent on cultural products in a physical format: books; magazines, newspapers, or other periodicals; video games, sheet music, records, CD, DVD or Blu-ray.

Another €100 can be spent on digital or online consumption: subscriptions and rentals to music, reading or audio-books, or audiovisual platforms, purchase of audiobooks, purchase of digital books (e-books), subscription to download multimedia files (podcasts), subscriptions to online video games, digital subscriptions to newspapers, magazines or other periodicals. It includes subscriptions to companies such as Netflix and Spotify, but subscriptions will be limited to a maximum of four months.

The aid can only be used in establishments or institutions that have signed up for the programme and which operate within Spain. A full list is supplied once you have been approved for the voucher.

What can it NOT be spent on?

The purchase of stationery products nor curricular textebooks, whether printed or digital. Also not eligible are computer and electronic equipment, software, hardware and consumables; art supplies; musical instruments; sports tickets or equipment; bullfight tickets; fashion or gastronomy products. The voucher will also not cover the purchase of products that have been X-rated or pornographic.

How to apply and how does it work?

Applications can only be made through the Youth Cultural Voucher website.

A Digital Certificate is required, for which you must be at least 18 years old, or identify yourself through Cl@ve. which will be enabled soon for minors, according to the Ministry.

The website is also available for companies to sign up and offer their cultural products and services.  

Once the aid has been granted, a virtual prepaid card will be received for use by mobile phone, although it can also be requested in physical format. It comes with an identification number and the identity of the beneficiary. You will have a total of 12 months in which to spend the money from the time you receive it.

 

Ministry of Culture and Sport
Banners promoting the ‘Bono Cultural’ outside the Ministry of Culture and Sport in Madrid this week. (Ministry of Culture / Facebook)

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