Culture without a net: the Consell de Mallorca forgets neighborhoods and towns
The cultural policies of the Consell de Mallorca have recently been characterized by a clear centralism. Most of the events take place in Palma's cultural and religious spaces—specifically the triangle formed by La Misericordia, the Convent of Santa Magdalena, and the Teatro Principal—while the city's neighborhoods and municipalities are neglected.
This concentration contradicts the theoretical objective of bringing culture to every corner of Mallorca. In fact, the artistic creation centers themselves have recently had to claim that they are a key element in decentralizing access to culture and promoting a more cohesive and plural society, rooting a diverse cultural offering in the region. However, the Council's actions seem to ignore this potential, reinforcing a model in which Palma de Mallorca—the historic center, of course—monopolizes all cultural resources.
The island's PP-Vox government has justified the changes in cultural management by arguing that it wants to give greater autonomy to the municipalities. The island's Minister of Culture, Antònia Roca (PP), stated in a meeting with municipal councilors, "There is more money, more freedom and less bureaucracy" in the new subsidies. In reality, the amounts are not substantially higher than in the previous term, and two major lines of aid have been created so that each council has the freedom to allocate the money where it sees fit, rather than having to adhere to specific allocations as before. According to Roca, the goal is to facilitate investment in culture throughout the island and reach the smallest towns: previously, large municipalities monopolized a large portion of the aid, and small towns were excluded by the competitive system and bureaucracy, according to her.
At first glance, this policy of "greater freedom, less red tape" seems attractive to city councils. However, in reality, the promised freedom hides a lack of direction and cultural vision. The new system eliminates competitive calls and any qualitative evaluation of projects and is limited to checking administrative requirements and automatically redistributing the budget among all those who comply with the paperwork. In other words, all applications that meet the requirements receive support (until funds are exhausted), regardless of the quality or interest of the initiatives. This approach represents a drastic shift from previous models that prioritized technical and artistic criteria, setting off alarm bells among professionals and cultural organizations.
The failure to plan a cohesive cultural network at the island level has led the cultural sector to warn that the new subsidy model impoverishes island cultural policy, as it penalizes the trajectory and quality of projects and makes it impossible to promote long-term transformative initiatives. The Balearic Islands Network of Creation Centers (RESIB)—which represents a large number of cultural spaces—has already expressed its deep displeasure with this purely bureaucratic and lacking strategic vision. They point out that precisely at a time when the cultural sector has diversified and consolidated, the island administration is reducing public support and ignoring the real impact and professional fabric that sustains local culture.
The effects of this policy are especially felt in small municipalities and grassroots projects. Without island-wide coordination and qualitative criteria, each municipality will be limited in its ability to expand its activities, jeopardizing the coherence and balance of the cultural offering across the island. What is lost is the possibility of creating a true cultural network: traveling performance circuits, shared educational programs, synergies between towns and creative centers... There is a risk of dispersing resources in sporadic actions without continuity or common objectives.
The Consell's cultural policy is framed within the PP's broader discourse on "freedom." They try to emulate President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who constantly raises the banner of individualism, but their policies have entailed cuts or lack of support for public cultural services (museums, universities, etc.) while prioritizing other ideological expenditures such as bullfighting. Brandishing "freedom" in the abstract and in lowercase serves to hide the lack of commitment to public affairs. In the case of Mallorca, they would be appealing to the freedom of all stakeholders to decide on culture, but the result is the Consell's inhibition in structuring a decent and accessible cultural offering for all. All of this hides inaction and a lack of a model. Or rather, they do have a model: constantly attacking the culture and language of Mallorca.
When policy guidance is neglected, the result is a culturally unequal Mallorca, where everyone does what they can with the allocated resources but without a comprehensive strategy. There is a lack of interest in building solid structures and a hidden desire to leave culture in the hands of the market or the variable political will of each council. Along these lines, the Socialists of Mallorca urge the Consell to revive initiatives that structure an island cultural network: programs that reach neighborhoods and towns, support for local events, collaboration with emerging artists and local facilities, etc. The goal is to ensure that culture reaches everyone with criteria of quality and equity. Cultural planning must avoid both Palma-based centralism and a total lack of coordination between municipalities. Only in this way can a rich, diverse, and deeply rooted cultural offering be ensured throughout the island.