Who has access to culture in the Balearic Islands?

PalmMany readers have probably never heard of cultural rights. And upon hearing them mentioned, they might assume they pertain to those within the cultural sector, having nothing to do with them. As with concepts like heteropatriarchy or gentrification, it seems that cultural rights have only recently entered the public discourse and are perceived as affecting only a few very specific areas, when in reality they have a structural dimension and are already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948, specifically regarding the cultural life of the community and the enjoyment of the arts. Even so, these rights are far from being guaranteed in the Balearic Islands.

According to the latest Yearbook of Cultural Statistics from the Ministry of Culture, numerous factors influence citizens' spending on culture: gender (women spend €312 per year, men €289); level of education (those with higher education spend almost €400 annually on culture, while those with lower secondary education spend less than half that amount, €191); and, above all, income. In Spanish households with a monthly income of less than €1,000, annual spending on culture is €265. If monthly income is between €2,000 and €2,500, the figure rises to €691, and if it exceeds €3,000, spending on cultural goods and services reaches €1,149—four and a half times more than those earning a third of that amount.

In any case, this data only shows a small part of the disparities in access to culture, since there are still no specific studies on the subject that take into account the access of people at risk of social exclusion, for example. Nor is spending the only factor to consider when discussing cultural rights. According to the Cultural Rights Plan 2025-2030, promoted by the Directorate General for Cultural Rights of the Spanish government – ​​created in January 2024 – guaranteeing cultural rights means: "Ensuring that all people can express, build, transform, and celebrate what makes us who we are."

Mesa and Acerca Cultura

"The lack of specific figures and studies on access to culture is already a good indicator of the state of cultural rights in the Balearic Islands," agree several cultural mediators and managers. Some of them created Taula, the association of cultural educators in Mallorca, in 2017 with the aim of "providing a meeting place for professionals, a physical and mental space for critical thinking and reflection, working to advocate for the professionalization and empowerment of cultural mediators." Currently, it has 26 members and is part of Almazuela, the national federation of cultural mediation associations. "In our region, we have always worked to democratize culture and create inclusive programs aimed at all social groups," explains Taula, "from education and mediation in museums to educational departments, among others." "But institutions haven't given it enough value; the transformative potential and social cohesion of these community-based creative processes haven't been taken into account, which has resulted in a lack of understanding in society of what cultural mediation is," they add. Among the members of Taula is Tina Codina, head of Connecta Cultura, from where she promotes projects in collaboration with institutions such as the UIB (University of the Balearic Islands), festivals such as MajorDocs, and organizations such as the Taller de Arte de Mención (Mention Art Workshop). With the latter, they have created initiatives such as the installation I work as a gardener, winner of the 2025 Pilar Juncosa grant from the Miró Mallorca Foundation for an educational project.

Another organization that has done a great deal to guarantee cultural rights in the Balearic Islands is Apropa Cultura, which arrived in the archipelago in May 2021. "For years, there had been a strong desire among both cultural programmers and social organizations to work in this direction; some were already doing it," they explain, "so what we did was to address that need and concern and offer a framework for network development." Today, it comprises 53 cultural programmers and 315 centers or services from social and health organizations, all with the goal of consolidating a "stable resource for cultural participation for people in vulnerable situations, both in the area of ​​disability and social exclusion."

"Cultural tourism is not the way"

However, all this work by organizations and professionals contrasts sharply with the cultural policies that the Balearic Government and, above all, the Palma City Council have been promoting lately, policies focused primarily on areas such as elitism and the promotion of cultural tourism. "Cultural tourism is not the way forward," Taula sources assert, "on the contrary, because it focuses culture and budgets on a specific sector, namely tourism, and neglects both the needs of the public and cultural professionals. Right now, the development of popular culture, especially critical culture, is being hindered, and access to public spaces is being restricted. Its decline is being encouraged," they point out.