Organizers have been fighting against a loss of audience since the beginning of the pandemic, young people have suffered from having to stay at home. The government now wants to enable young people to use a culture pass to visit concerts or cinemas at state expense. Every 18-year-old should be entitled to 200 euros.
With the new culture pass for initially only 18-year-olds, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth want to “promote an innovation in Germany in cultural policy”. It’s about “bringing young people closer to cultural life and reducing the hurdles,” said Lindner in Berlin.
The budget earmarks 100 million euros for this. “We know that both artists and young people have suffered from the pandemic in a special way. Some have not found an audience, could not continue their cultural work and the others had no opportunity to talk to each other and take part in cultural life “Lindner said. After the initially one-year pilot project, Lindner hopes “to make cultural experiences possible for young people beyond sponsoring a culture pass for more than 200 euros”.
Roth wants to “open the way to culture, especially for young people. We want to inspire young people for the diversity of our culture in our country.” It is “especially the young people who have suffered so much from the pandemic”. At the same time, cultural institutions, bookstores, record shops, concert organizers, theaters and cabarets suffered. “We also want to give them support in that they can possibly win a new audience for themselves,” said Roth. Initially, the culture pass applies to around 750,000 young people who will turn 18 next year.
It should be possible to load 200 euros via an app. The credit can be used to order a book or pick up a concert ticket. “Now for the 18-year-olds,” said Roth. If this opens the door “to the richness of our culture for young people”, the culture pass should also be extended to younger people. The cinema association AG Kino – Gilde sees the Kulturpass as a “great opportunity to structurally improve cultural affinity”. This would enable young people to participate in culture. “We have seen in France for a number of years how popular and successful such a culture pass can be.
With a sophisticated concept, we have the great opportunity to structurally and sustainably improve the cultural affinity in the younger generations,” said Christian Bräuer, chairman of the association. “The culture pass is also an important sign of solidarity with the young people who enjoy cultural and social activities Life and experience were denied for too long, especially during the pandemic.