Mallorca Live: culture cannot be an excuse
Public investment in culture is not only legitimate, it is necessary. No country or society with the slightest collective ambition can leave culture exclusively in the hands of the market. Institutional support for cultural projects serves to guarantee plurality, access, social cohesion, and external projection. But precisely because public resources are limited and come from all citizens, investment must respond to criteria of proportionality, transparency, and general interest. It is here that the case of Mallorca Live sets off alarms.
The network of companies formed around the festival, which will again take place from June 12 to 14, has received almost 3.5 million euros from institutions in just five years. A high figure that is even higher when it is known that it is only slightly less than what the promoter of an internationally renowned festival like Primavera Sound in Barcelona has received in double the time – 10 years – (3.9 million). The similarity is difficult to justify. Primavera Sound has built a solid cultural identity, a pioneering lineup, and a brand recognized worldwide. 65% of the audience is international and 10% comes from the rest of Spain. It is a festival that moves a lot of people.
Mallorca Live has a large attendance, but has barely managed to attract 15% of the audience from outside the island. If the aid from the Balearic Islands Tourism Strategy Agency (AETIB) aims to boost festival tourism – an approach that also deserves debate on an island subjected to enormous tourist pressure – the formula is not working. Filling a esplanade with people for three days is not enough to turn a festival into a strategic project.
In any case, political priorities have long been clear. It is no coincidence that both the Government and the Palma City Council, since being governed by the PP, integrate tourism, culture, and sports, in that order, within the same ministry and council. It is also no coincidence that Mallorca Live is promoted at major international tourism fairs. Public support is not so much a cultural investment as a tourism marketing strategy.
Furthermore, the comparison with Mobofest is revealing. After a decade working for local music and for a culture rooted in the island, the festival has announced it is closing down. A project driven by young people to which, by comparison, infinitesimal amounts of public money have been injected. A matter of priorities. If the Government wants to declare Mallorca Live a strategic project, let it do so. But then it should also demand real cultural benefits: support for local creation, non-residual spaces for island artists and transparency about the destination of public resources. Because culture needs public investment. What it doesn't need is to become a mere excuse to continue feeding the tourist machinery.
