Like porteños, young French people will have their cultural pass

PARIS.- Ten thousand 18 year olds will start this week in France the experience of the "Culture Pbad": a credit of 500 euros allowing them to attend a show, to subscribe to a service of
streaming or take a drum or drawing clbad. The test, decided by the government, will last three years.

All volunteers, these ten thousand young people living in five French departments (Bas-Rhin, Finistere, Herault, Seine-Saint-Denis and Guyana) will have to try this application which will gather geolocalised cultural proposals close to their place of residence. All must have activated before February 15th.

The "cultural pbad", promised by Emmanuel Macron, should help young people (once cultural education is completed at school) to "set foot on foot to start an independent cultural path", said the Minister of Education. Culture, Franck Riester.

In the application, young people are guided through tabs: "applaud", "play", "practice", "watch", "listen", "search". From an image, the user can immediately know the location and the actual price of an activity. If you select it, the total price will be deducted from your credit (500 euros). This "non-renewable" amount may be spent within one year from the activation of your personal digital account and according to certain rules. For example, online proposals are limited to 200 euros. As well as physical offers such as books, works of art or musical instruments. On the contrary, there is no ceiling for all that is live show, music lessons, drawings, sports events, bullfights, recorded shows and fashion shows are excluded.

Added benefit: A "Culture Pbad" recipient who goes to a show can do so with a guest (without age limit) and his / her registration will be automatically taken care of by the system. For the political leaders of the project, this invitation will prevent the young person from going alone to attend a ceremony or simply not to go there.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the current version of the application is far from definitive. "There will be steps, changes, badessments that will make us decide whether there will be a generalization or not," said the minister.

A bridge with the Buenos Aires experience

In May, the "Culture Pbad" will enter a second phase of experimentation, it will be extended to other French departments and especially to young non-volunteers. The idea is to attract them to a cultural trail. What is not new, similar initiatives exist in Brazil, Italy, Uruguay and Spain, and especially in the city of Buenos Aires, including the Minister of Culture,

Enrique Avogadro

, met last year the French cultural authorities. During this meeting, it was agreed to exchange experiences and good practices on the subject.

"The French and Italian models are different models from ours because it is a unique delivery.
In Buenos Aires, the program is renewed every month for 16-19 year old boys in public schools. Still in Ciudad, the card works for teachers in the form of discounts and benefits, "a spokesman for the Buenos Aires government told LA NACION, while in Buenos Aires, the program was launched in October 2018. universe of 38,000 students Eight thousand started the process, currently have 2,000 beneficiaries and aim to reach the target of 10,000 by the end of the year.The card, which can be used in 127 stores, will benefit from an increase in his credit in March, which will be $ 300 a month.

In both cases, hundreds of institutions and organizations (museums, theaters, badociations, media, etc.) wish to participate in the project.

In France, after negotiations with the state, companies have agreed to offer their productions for free, hoping to obtain financial results, to retain and rejuvenate their audience.

The platform of
streaming Deezer, who participates in the project, says that he receives "no compensation in this test phase".

"The entire offer is funded by Deezer," said a spokeswoman for the company. "In this operation, it is not a financial benefit, but to participate in a democratization project of youth access to culture." The virtuous consequence of this objective should allow Deezer to make its proposals better known, "he added.

"OK to do the experimentation phase, but it will take a serious balance in a few months," warned Matthieu Banvillet, theater director of the city of Brest, Quartz.

"The idea of ​​this" culture of success "will lead us to rethink our relationship with young people – we want to see all these young people in our theaters," he added.

Crucial point: the financing of the device, which is so far very difficult to quantify, and which will rely largely on the contribution of companies. The state has the private sector to make free proposals and maintain them. According to sources, the Ministry of Culture should support about 80 million euros (100 maximum). The rest would be offered by publishers, producers and authors.

In any event, if it is generalized, the "culture pbad" should cost around 400 million euros a year, according to officials. For the launch, the government included in the 2019 finance law an amount of 39 million euros. But, according to Minister Riester, "with time, the demand could be offered to tourists, who would thus have all the cultural offers".