In its second edition, the Young Cultural Voucher, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, has been requested by 5,103 navarros and navarras who turn 18 in 2023. This figure represents 73.63 percent of the potential beneficiaries who, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, were 6,956.
In the whole of Spain, a total of 326,579 applications have been registered, 65.58 percent of people born in 2005. Not only is Navarre above the average, but it is the community with the highest percentage of applications. In addition, the figure of the first edition is exceeded, when 4,547 young people from Navarre applied for the Cultural Bonus.
In this second edition, all registrations have been processed digitally, through the website www.bonoculturajoven.gob.esbetween 13 June and 31 October, including the extension of one month agreed with the aim of encouraging and facilitating the maximum participation of young people in the programme.
After being registered and signed, each of these applications is reviewed and subjected to the process of individualized control of subsidies of the General Administration of the State, so that the final number of beneficiaries could suffer some variation.
The public company Correos, the entity in charge of the banking support of the Young Cultural Bonus, already began on September 14 the sending of virtual and physical cards to the young beneficiaries. From that moment, the cards are being issued progressively until they reach the total of bonuses granted.
Once the Young Cultural Bonus is activated, the beneficiaries have one year to make use of the card from the date of concession. The application and the website of the Young Cultural Voucher show, in a personalized way, the remaining time that each young person has to enjoy the Voucher, as well as their remaining balance in each of the categories in which it is distributed:
- 100 euros for physical products, for example, books, press or discs.
- 100 euros for digital products: digital press, podcast or online video games.
- 200 euros for performing arts: theater, opera, cinema, dance, museums...
For its part, more than 3,000 cultural companies already offer their services and products through the program that the Ministry of Culture and Sport launched in 2022. As of September 30, 1,847,779 operations worth 59.4 million euros had been carried out by the beneficiaries of the Young Cultural Bonus of the first edition. The application period for companies and cultural entities remains open.
The objectives of this initiative that the Government of Spain has consolidated in its General State Budgets are, on the one hand, to promote the loyalty of young people as a public and cultural consumer; and, on the other, to offer additional support to the cultural sector in its recovery, which in this second edition would benefit with additional income of 130 million euros.