Spain

Last update: February, 2019

One of the main objectives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for the period 2017-2020, included in the Culture Plan 2020 of the State Secretariat for Culture, is to encourage cultural participation through initiatives such as the modernisation of facilities (archives, libraries, museums, etc.)  new programmes of the Spanish Film Archive to attract young people to the cinema and audiovisual arts; plans aimed to develop new publics for museums the access to cinema in rural and small urban areas; and a virtual map for performing arts activities and facilities. In 2018, the Ministry of Culture and Sport organised the Culture and Citizenship edition on the topic of Education, Mediation and New Audiences. Currently, a White Book for the Promotion of the Audiences of the Arts is being discussed by the sector. To inform audiences about cultural activities, the Ministry's online portal and the channel Cultura (Culture Channel) allow access to audiovisual content on the cultural activity carried out by the Ministry and its institutions.

Traditionally, the main initiatives to foster participation in culture at the regional level are those based on the creation or restoration of performing arts institutions (mainly as part of the National Plan of Rehabilitation of Theatres and Concert Halls) or the establishment of networks for the performing arts and music circulation. Contemporary arts centres built in recent times and some symphonic orchestras and auditoriums also carry out activities aimed at generating new concert- or exhibition-goers by means of introductory programmes for potential enthusiasts. There are numerous initiatives to promote cultural participation and consumption at the regional and local levels, for example:

• the Abecedaria Programme, promoted by the Andalusian Department of Education, Culture and Sport, is a circuit of performing arts, music and audiovisual performance for students in the Andalusian municipalities. In September 2009, it received the award for the most effective initiative to attract new audiences in Spain, given by the International Fair of Theatre and Dance in Huesca (Aragon, 23rd Edition);
• the Escena 25 is an initiative of the Catalan Department of Culture to increase attendance to performing arts of people 18-25 years by offering tickets from EUR 3;
• the Valencian Cultural Bonus is an initiative of the Department of Culture of the Valencian Community that provides economic and operational advantages, with 21% tax deductions in the amount spent on cultural bonus. It is a measure aimed at Valencian people with an annual income of less than EUR 50 000;
• the Bizkaiko Kultur Txartela is a cultural bonus (EUR 40) launched by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia (in the Basque Country) aimed to promote cultural consumption;
• the Cultural Bonus is an initiative of the government of Aragón that provides discounts ranging from 30% to 70% for young people (12-35 years old) on cultural;
• the JOBO. Young Cultural Bonus is an initiative of the Madrid City Council to increase attendance to cinema and performing arts of 16-26-year-olds by offering free entrance.

The Youth Institute and similar institutes at the regional level distribute the “Euro<26 Card” to increase cultural consumption among youth, which gives discounts between 10% and 100% on tickets for museums, theatres, cinemas and music festivals. There are also discounts available for pensioners and students, usually provided by local authorities, including free entrance to museums and discounts on cinema and theatre tickets.

With the aim of encouraging attendance to the movie theatres, two recent private initiatives have been launched by the most representative associations of the film industry. The first edition of the three-day “Festival of Cinema” took place at the end of 2013 and the ticket price was EUR 2.90.

 Following the success of this initiative, the campaign “Wednesdays at Cinema” was launched in 2014. From January 15^th till April 15^th, cinema visitors could watch a film for a reduced ticket price every Wednesday. Both initiatives are aimed at promoting film culture and facilitating attendance to cinemas and have proved to be very successful. In collaboration with the National Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), both initiatives were continued.

Last update: February, 2019

Receptive cultural participation

According to the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain^[1] – which involves 16 000 interviews with persons aged 15 or over - cultural content is mostly consumed by television viewers (more than 95% in all periods considered in Table 3: 2006-2007, 2010-2011 and 2014-1015), followed by music listeners (85.5% in the last period, 2014-2015), newspaper readers (79.7% in 2014-2015) and radio listeners (76.8 % in 2014-2015). More than half of the surveyed Spaniards went to the cinema in all three reported periods, although this percentage decreased slightly in 2010-2011 (49.1%). Cultural activities that ranked lower in overall participation rates include the attendance at dance, opera and lyrical opera (zarzuela). In 2014-2015, only 7% of the population indicated that they attended a dance performance at least once a year; 2.6% went to the opera and 1.8% to a zarzuela performance.

Table 3: People who participated in or attended a certain cultural activity during the last 12 months in Spain (in % of the population, period 2006-2015)

Source:  Ministry of Culture (several years) Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain.

Note:  Na: Non-available
Usually: at least once a month

If the results of the survey are compared to those available for the period 2006-2007, there has been an increase in the rates of annual attendance at museums, monuments, archaeological sites and archives. Similarly, there has been an increase in attendance or access to libraries, and an increase in the annual rates of reading. Regarding the performing arts and music, even with the positive development in attendance at the theatre, ballet or dance, the annual rates of attendance at live shows decreased.

The number of people who use a computer and the Internet for entertainment or leisure grew extensively between the periods 2006-2007 and 2014-2015 (respectively from 33.7% to 62.5% and from 33.1% to 66.9%). Moreover, the latest survey results confirm the use of new technologies as a means of disseminating culture. Thus, 26.8% of those surveyed read online (compared to 14.4% in the previous survey), 26.2% listened to music on the computer or directly on the Internet (compared to 17.3% in the previous survey) and 12.3% usually watched videos online (compared to 6.8% in the previous survey).

With respect to participant characteristics, the latest survey confirms participation patterns already observed in previous periods. Thus, indicators offer significant differences by gender. Women read more than men, except for professional and press reading, which are activities that are more frequent among men. Women visit libraries more often, both in person and online. Women also have higher rates of visits to museums, exhibitions and art galleries, whereas men more often visit monuments and archaeological sites. The youth have the highest rates of cultural participation in almost all areas: they visit more museums, monuments, etc.; they attend more performing arts or music events; they read more; they go to libraries more often, and they buy more. However, these high rates decrease, with greater or lesser extent, when age increases. Educational level is the most decisive variable in cultural participation, rising significantly when the level of education increases.

The Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain does not provide any data on the surveyed’ place of origin. In 2005, the Permanent Immigration Observatory (attached to the current Ministry for Employment and Social Security) published a study entitled "Consumption and leisure of Latin American immigrants in Spain". It showed that once immigrants have gained a minimal level of stability, they participate actively in consumption and leisure. Also, their desire for integration is fundamentally a desire to raise their consumption, in terms of both quantity and quality. More recently, an exploratory study on cultural consumption of Latin American immigrants in Spain highlights: the low level of intra-ethnic association; patterns of cultural and media consumption similar to the country of origin; the survival of traditional mass media, with a clear preference for the use of television and radio listening (and especially for music stations); a higher consumption of free print media; low attendance at the cinema and informal channels of video distribution; the growing use of new technologies; and the observation of the effects of the crisis on the living standards of Latin American immigrants in Spain (Retis, 2011).^[2]

In 2013, a first inquiry on the participation of Moroccan residents in cultural and media activities was published. Watching television (91.6%), listening to music on the radio (54.6%) and reading literature (44.5%) were the most common activities among Moroccan residents. Moreover, the study pointed out a tendency towards intra-ethnic consumption and revealed gender differences in both the youth and adult group (Huertas et al., 2013).^[3]

Active cultural participation

The Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain^[4] also provides data on active cultural practices. As shown in Table 4, the most popular activities are photography (28.9% in 2014-2015), making videos (15%), drawing or painting (13.7%) or practising other visual arts (8.3%) and writing (7.1%).

As in passive cultural practices, there are significant differences in cultural behaviour by gender and age. By gender, women have a greater preference for writing, painting or drawing, as well as theatre or dance; while playing a musical instrument, taking photographs or making videos are the most popular hobbies for males. Regarding age, active participation is more prevalent amongst youth.

With respect to changes between 2006-2007 and 2014-2015, almost all activities experience a positive growth, this being especially noteworthy in the case of photography (with an increase of 12.3%), video (9.3%) and painting or drawing (4.5%).

The involvement of government occurs mainly at the local level and the vast majority of amateur activity is offered free of charge and is promoted by town councils or non-profit making associations or clubs. Examples are the organisation of the First Amateur Performing Arts Circuit in 2010 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) by the artistic-cultural Association Korrontx and the Espai A, Xarxa d'Arts Escèniques Amateurs de Catalunya / Space A, Net on Amateur Performing Arts of Catalonia in Catalonia in 2012, which was launched by the regional government. Promoted by representative associations and federations of the country, the latter project seeks to create new audiences for amateur performances and to increase the profitability of their productions through a stable programming of amateur performances.

Table 4: People who have carried out artistic activities in Spain in the last 12 months by type of activity (in % of total population, period 2006-2015)

Source:  Ministry of Culture (several years) Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain.

^[1] Different editions of the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain can be found here: https://www.mecd.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/estadisticas/cultura/mc/ehc/portada.html.

^[2] Retis, J.: "Estudio exploratorio sobre el consumo cultural de los inmigrantes latinoamericanos en España: el contexto transnacional de las prácticas culturales", Documento de Trabajo, Fundación Alternativas, n. 9, p. 1-126, 2011. http://www.falternativas.org/occ-fa/documentos/estudio-sobre-el-consumo-cultural-de-los-latinoamericanos-de-espana.

^[3] Huertas, A. / Martínez, Y. / Moreras, J.: "Prácticas y consumos mediático-culturales del colectivo marroquí en España", Documento de Trabajo, Fundación Alternativas, n. 11, p. 1-72, 2013. http://www.falternativas.org/occ-fa/documentos/pra-cticas-y-consumos-media-tico-culturales-del-colectivo-marroqui-en-espan-a.

^[4] Different editions of the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain can be found here: https://www.mecd.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/estadisticas/cultura/mc/ehc/portada.html.

Last update: February, 2019

Figures on cultural consumption are taken from a specific exploitation from the Household Budget Survey Base 2006^[1], produced by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Due to changes in methodology, at present, trend analysis is not feasible.

Table 5: Household cultural expenditure by expenditure purpose, 2017

Source:  Specific exploitation of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport from the Household Budget Survey
2006 Base of the National Statistics Institute.

In 2017, Spanish households spent EUR 13 298.4 million on cultural goods and services, which represents 2.5% of a households’ total expenditure on goods and services. The amount of money spent by Spanish households on cultural goods and services decreased with 5,7% compared to 2016.

Cultural spending amounted to EUR 288.6 per capita in 2017. By categories, home-based activities dominated cultural spending, especially home entertainment (EUR 179.6 per capita) and reading (EUR 58.3), which together accounted for 82.5% of cultural spending. In the home entertainment category, Internet related services (EUR 72.1 per capita) ranked highest, followed by mobile devices (EUR 33.9), expenditure on audiovisual equipment (EUR 29.2) and on computers (EUR 27.6). Other cultural spending categories include attendance at cultural events such as cinema, theatre, opera and dance, which accounted for 14.9% (EUR 42.9) of cultural spending.

^[1] Data on the specific exploitation of the Ministry of Culture and Sport from the Household Budget Survey 2006 Base can be found in the Cultural Statistical Yearbook: https://www.mecd.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/estadisticas/cultura/mc/naec/portada.html.

Last update: February, 2019

Civic centres are municipal spaces that encourage participation in the cultural and social dynamic of neighbourhoods. They connect broad segments of the population with culture through workshops, series of cultural events, talks and exhibitions. In addition to offering services for specific groups in the neighbourhood, the civic centres have specialised in offering coordinated services and cultural activities of interest to the general public.

In addition to these facilities, cultural houses at the municipal level also play an important role in active cultural practices for the local population. Both types of centres depend on the programmes and financing of local authorities.

The only data on visits to cultural centres are collected in the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. According to this source, during the period 2006-2015, visits to cultural centres decreased with 3% (from 22.9% in 2006-2007 to 19.9% of the population in 2014-2015).

In the last ten years, many community artistic projects took place at the district level in particular. Many of them aim to foster collaborative artistic creations in neighbourhoods using diverse, hybrid and experimental languages, ranging from the performing and visual arts to the audiovisual and new technologies. Some of these initiatives are promoted by the city councils (such as the Art i Part [Art and Part ] by the City Council of Barcelona or CiudaDistrito by the City Council of Madrid) or by the third sector (such as the programme Art for Change of the ”la Caixa” Foundation) to help to run art projects involving active participation by people in situations of vulnerability. The aim of the projects is to give these people a voice, equal conditions and opportunities and make them visible in society through participation in a creative process.

The bodies that best represent the spirit of the third sector in Spain are the associations. According to a study by the University of Deusto and the Author Foundation, cultural associations, which were strong at the end of Francoism and the beginning of democracy, are currently in crisis. The causes are not attributed to the size of the movement, since there are 42 107 associations registered in the Autonomous Communities, but rather to factors such as the limited impact of their activities on society, excessive reliance on public subsidies, a lack of generational exchange and changing social habits. The study indicates that 46.3% of the cultural associations do have a generic scope, while the remaining 53.7% are specialised in a specific cultural sector. The largest sector is music, followed by heritage and the performing arts. Regarding regional distribution, Catalonia has the highest number of cultural associations (19% of the total) followed by Valencia (17%). Andalusia and Madrid have the lowest rates (VVAA, 2008)^[1].

It is hard to find out how many cultural associations exist in Spain nowadays. The National Register of Association shows 83 417 registrations with the term “cultural” in the official name of the entity. There is no specific official register for cultural associations (as they exist, for instance, for sports associations or for religious associations).

^[1] V.V.A.A.: Las asociaciones culturales en España. Madrid: Fundación Autor - SGAE, 2008.