Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport presents its new culture model

The document includes a total of 150 measures that span the whole culture world and which could form the beginnings of a State Pact on Culture, since it was drafted with contributions from four parliamentary groups in the Lower House: the People's Party, the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party], Unidos Podemos-En Comú Podem-En Marea and Ciudadanos.

Under the new 2020 Culture Plan, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport takes on a commitment to transparency and the viability of its 150 measures, since the main criterion for the selection of all of the projects is their rigour and that they are realistic in budgetary terms.

This ambitious 2020 Culture Plan has five main goals, underlined Fernando Benzo in his appearance before the Culture Committee: to foster a quality cultural offer; to update the legal framework to protect culture; to promote a social alliance for culture; to extend Spanish culture beyond our borders and to boost creative activity.

The following 10 measures are particularly noteworthy in the 2020 Culture Plan due to their importance:

• The implementation of a new Plan to Promote Reading, to increase its indices in Spanish society, particularly among young people through reading clubs at schools
• Stepping up actions in the fight against the breach of intellectual property rights on the Internet, the creation of a specialised public prosecution office and the creation of a new anti-piracy generation
• A Patronage Act that increases private investment in activities of general interest related to the world of culture
• In relation to cinema, a plan for new filmmakers aimed at young talent, attracting the shooting of international films and the creation of a new "This is Spanish cinema" seal of recognition
• The development of the Statute of Artists and Creators, aimed at improving their labour, economic and social conditions
• The modernisation of State cultural infrastructure, with the decisive renewal and refurbishment of buildings and facilities to improve this
• Gradual reduction of the indirect tax that affects cultural headings to thus increase the demand from citizens for all cultural products
• An increase in the presence of Spanish performing arts companies on the international stage
• Adapting the economic, legal and budgetary regime of INAEM [National Institute of Performing Arts and Music], establishing the foundations for a new National Dance Theatre and boosting the circus arts
• Integrating and coordinating Spanish cultural action overseas

Goals of 2020 Culture Plan

• To promote a quality cultural offer. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport seeks to establish the best possible conditions for achieving the highest quality cultural offer, aspiring to excellence in new projects undertaken while providing the resources necessary to make access to culture universal, through improving equipment and the technological modernisation of the management of culture.
• To update the legal framework to protect culture. The 2020 Culture Plan seeks to overhaul the legal framework given the developing and transforming socio-cultural reality, and propose to the legal good - Spanish culture - that it wishes to protect and promote, new needs and changing scenarios on an ongoing basis. To achieve this, it is essential to provide culture with the legal instruments necessary and redefine their scope of regulation, generating a stable environment and optimum conditions that guarantee their normal development and that also serve to provide cover for the needs that may arise in the coming years.
• Promote a social alliance for culture. The 2020 Culture Plan seeks to head up a joint commitment between civil society and public authorities with powers on cultural issues, to ensure that culture is a social and political priority, taking on its importance as an essential factor in development and well-being. Thus, based on the need for cooperation between institutions, citizens and the various sectors involved in their creation, we seek to foster the conviction that safeguarding the interests of the arts and culture should not exclusively be the competence of public institutions, but also that our social fabric as a whole should become involved and take part in our culture.
• Extend Spanish culture beyond our borders. Taking the multicultural wealth of our country as a reference point, there is a fundamental need to strengthen the international image of Spain as a cultural powerhouse and benchmark of the first order, through the international promotion of our creative industries, boosting - based on all its potential - our presence abroad and fostering coordination between public and private stakeholders on a sole strategy for cultural action overseas.
• Boost creative activity. This 2020 Culture Plan unites all the actions that are designed to improve conditions for promoting contemporary creation and intellectual innovation as necessary elements for the better development of society, creating a stable medium for its creative players that allows them to develop their capabilities on an ongoing basis and enhancing their spaces, while providing the greatest possible visibility for their creations.

Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y DeporteAs regards intellectual property rights, the 2020 Culture Plan will approve a new legal regulation on fair compensation for private copying, will boost the control function of the First Section of the Intellectual Property Commission and will strengthen the human and technological resources allocated to the Second Section; the Intellectual Property Act will be reformed to transpose the European Directive on the collective management of intellectual property rights and multi-territorial licenses of rights over musical works for their use online. It will also collaborate with the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney's Office to set up a specialised public prosecution office to combat breaches of intellectual property rights.

Filmmaking - which is a cultural sector that contributes to economic development and job creation and wealth - will now be recognised through the new "This is Spanish cinema" seal and work will be carried out to attract more films to be shot in Spain. In addition, as well as modifying the order of the regulatory bases for cinema subsidies, transparent measures will be established that improve the funding of cinema, with an investment quota system for production. Promoting education in filmmaking is highly present in this plan through such measures as the 'Education for Cinema. Cinema for Education' Programme, which will include educational subjects related to cinema and the audiovisual arts, the promotion of joint actions with regional governments and local authorities to improve the quality of teaching at film academies; and raising awareness among youths through their participation in European projects on education and cinema. Also under this plan, Filmoteca Española will have its technical capabilities and actions strengthened through the start-up, inter alia, of a Comprehensive Long-Term Plan for the Preservation of our Film Heritage.

The 2020 Culture Plan pays particular attention to the Creative and Cultural Industries (Spanish acronym: ICC), prioritising the promotion of measures that stimulate quality, innovation and creativity through the development of Annual Plans to Promote ICCs: the drafting of a White Paper on the creation, training and development of cultural publics; boosting the participation of Spanish cultural operators in European Union funding instruments; the implementation of a new line of participative loans; and the drafting of a specific development plan on the creation and production of videogames in Spain.

To promote, boost and stimulate reading is one of the basic lines of action. The Plan to Promote Reading which will be approved by the State Secretary for Culture seeks to significantly increase the indices of reading in Spanish society through the education of new readers and work with the population at risk of abandoning reading, strengthening reading at educational and training levels, consolidating public libraries as a meeting point, and encouraging respect for intellectual property. The activity of the Reading and Book Watchdog will also be reactivated, the service to lend out electronic books at public libraries will be encouraged and, as part of the new out-of-school activity offer, reading clubs will be set up in schools.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, in close collaboration with the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Function, will foster patronage initiatives through the drafting of a Cultural Patronage Act, the creation of a 'Culture and Patronage' unit to attract new resources and the gradual reduction of the indirect tax on the culture sector.

The 2020 Culture Plan also seeks to develop actions that foster the internationalisation of Spanish culture and an improved cultural tourism offer than the existing offer through applications associated with new technologies. To that end, the measures for access by Spanish cultural products to the international market will be stepped up through the Annual Action Plan for the Cultural Promotion of Spain overseas in collaboration with Spanish Cultural Action (Spanish acronym: AC/E), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Spanish acronym: AECID) and the Cervantes Institute.

Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte

Lastly, the development of the Statute on Artists and Creators stemming from the conclusions being drawn up in Parliament stands out, with the main aim of promoting improved labour, economic and social conditions and recognising the specific nature of professionals working in the culture sector.

Among the measures included in the 2020 Culture Plan in regard to another main area of action - Cultural Heritage - noteworthy is the improvement and modernisation of State archives, libraries and museums, with the development of new infrastructure projects; the implementation of new national plans for the conservation and advertising of archaeological sites, the conservation of digital heritage and the digitalisation of bibliographic heritage; promoting cultural participation in museums through the preparation of the Public Development Plan and strengthening the 'More Social Museums' programme; the regulatory development of historic heritage and intangible heritage, of a State Museum Regulation, and the regulation of the functioning of the National Archaeological Museum; as well as the creation of the Provincial Historical Archive of Madrid.

The facilitation of access by the public to performing arts in all disciplines is another of the primary goals of the 2020 Plan. To achieve this, the Institute for Performing Arts and Music (Spanish acronym: INAEM) will adapt its economic, legal and budgetary regime with the aim of making its conditions more flexible; the basis for a new National Dance Theatre will be established, and a boost will be given to the circus arts, to Spanish choreographic creation and to access to the archives of religious music. The plan also provides for the development and spread of the 'Educaescena' Programme for the application of new pedagogic formulas, the drafting of a Training Plan in Performing Arts, the strengthening of the 'Platea' Programme that allows companies to have a presence throughout the country, and the creation of a statistical system on audience and revenue.

The 2020 Culture Plan also incorporates specific actions at cultural institutions under the auspices of the State Secretariat of Culture. The National Library of Spain will see its digital content increase to become a benchmark centre in international Hispanic studies. In turn, the Prado National Museum and the Reina Sofia National Art Centre Museum will see their human and material resources increased.