In its first edition, the Bono Cultural Joven has been applied for by 281,557 young people who will turn 18 in 2022, distributed throughout Spain. This represents 57.60% of the estimated population of that age group, 488,794 people, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. All applicants will receive a grant of 400 euros to invest in cultural products.
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Last Monday, the last day for applying to join the programme, 15,206 applications were registered. To facilitate the process in those last hours, employees at the Post Office collected the applications by hand and are currently uploading them onto the Bono Cultural Joven platform, which could slightly increase the numbers.
Since the start of the Bono Cultural application process, 225,153 young people have chosen to register digitally, via the website, while 56,404 have done so at a post office.
In light of these figures, the Ministry of Culture and Sport has a positive assessment of this pioneering initiative, in two ways: on the one hand, it shows the interest of a broad spectrum of the young Spanish population in culture, which this initiative helps to build loyalty as a public and cultural consumer for the future; and, on the other hand, it offers additional support to the cultural sector to recover from the crisis, with an investment of more than 112 million euros. So far, 2,500 cultural companies, including several commercial chains, have joined the programme. Companies will be able to continue to join the programme without a deadline.
Once the subsidy has been granted, young people will have one year to spend the 400 euros. The Bono Cultural Joven works with a prepaid card issued by Correos, which the beneficiary can have virtually on their mobile or physically. In this case, it can be picked up at any post office in Spain. This card can be used to enjoy cultural experiences and products.
The design of the Bono, divided into three tranches, favours investment diversification, with the following distribution:
-100 euros for physical products, for example, books, press or records.
-100 euros for digital products: digital press, podcasts, online video games.
-200 euros for performing arts: theatre, opera, cinema, dance, museums.