Imagine it's your birthday, you've just come of age, and along with the congratulations from your family and those you receive on Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, you get one from your Cabildo: - Dear Fayna, happy 18th birthday, for the next 12 months, just by showing your ID, you can access all cultural activities produced by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa for free. This, in short, is what Coalición Canaria will implement in the upcoming legislature. We've called it "Bono18," and with your vote, we'll make it a reality.
Aside from popular activities like listening to music, which *87.2% of Spaniards do regularly, going to a commercial movie theater (*62.2%), or playing video games (**35.9%), the truth is that preferences in cultural consumption in Spain don't quite connect with other disciplines that have less media presence but are just as valuable from an artistic point of view. Suffice it to say that *7 out of 10 Spaniards never go to the theater, that *91.4% of the population hasn't attended a classical music concert in the last twelve months, or that 93% preferred to do anything else rather than enjoy a dance performance in the last year. It's a shared responsibility to get young people to consume cultural offerings they've probably never experienced, and "Bono18" will help shorten the distance that separates them.
If 18-year-olds decide to flock to activities en masse, won't all the tickets sell out? I wish something like that would happen, but this scenario is unlikely. Despite the great leap in quality and quantity that the Cabildo's cultural offerings have experienced in recent years, attendance at paid activities organized reaches an average occupancy rate of ***38.2%. If we consider that there are currently ****1,500 18-year-olds in Lanzarote and La Graciosa and that they barely make up ****1.3% of the total residents over 15 years old, the forecast increase in audience attendance shouldn't jeopardize ticket availability. It may happen on occasion, but while with "Bono18" you'll have to pick up your ticket at the Cabildo building or at the box offices of the shows, the rest of the buyers will continue to purchase them through the online service at www.culturalanzarote.com without having to leave home. For this reason alone, it's reasonable to think that the new initiative will maintain a balance between buyers and "birthday celebrants."
Our goal with this measure, as I've said, is the creation of a young audience and the universality of access to culture among those who are called to forge the future of our islands. "Bono18" will be a step forward in this regard and will highlight Lanzarote and La Graciosa in the front row of progressive cultural policies. It's necessary for you to participate by voting for Coalición Canaria in the local elections on May 26, as I am running on the list led by Pedro San Ginés to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and with your vote, we will ensure that measures like "Bono18," the Pancho Lasso Museum, the Ethnographic Center for Lanzarote and La Graciosa, the recovery of the Insular Rock Circuit, and the rest of the cultural proposals in our electoral program soon become a reality.
Sources:
* Ministry of Culture of Spain.
** Spanish Association of Video Games.
*** Culture Area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
**** Data Center of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
Óscar Pérez Cabrera. Member of the CC list to the Cabildo and island councilor of Culture.
