The (real) weight of culture
The fact that culture generates 3.2% of jobs and represents 2.1% of the Balearic economy may surprise some. For some, it's far more than they imagined in a region known for its tourism-driven economy. For others, the percentage is disappointing compared to the vibrant cultural scene across the islands. For the former, these figures offer a glimmer of hope. For the latter, they merely confirm the precariousness of a sector that survives more on passion than on anything resembling sustainability.
Anyone even remotely familiar with the cultural life of the Balearic Islands knows there's activity every single day, around the clock. Book presentations, conferences, film screenings, theater performances, dance shows, concerts, festivals, busy bookstores, reading clubs, exhibitions, galleries, museums, small but persistent publishers, cultural institutions constantly programming events, open monuments, and much more. The supply could be better, that's clear, but proportionally to the size of the territory, it's not insignificant. And yet, this incessant activity isn't reflected in the economic weight it should have.
The reason is well known: a lack of professionalization and widespread job insecurity. Very few book presentations actually pay the presenter, to give a clear example. Many people work in different areas of culture, dedicating their time and contributing their knowledge, but all of this goes unrecorded. It doesn't appear in employment figures or GDP, anywhere. It's invisible work that often costs money to those who do it, even though it sustains a good part of what we call the 'cultural industry'.
This leads us to another problem: the lack of complete and reliable data is glaring. Current statistics don't capture the full scope of the sector, nor are they well compiled. Actual employment is much higher than the reports indicate. And until there's a reliable snapshot, it's impossible to make a rigorous diagnosis, let alone a plan to remedy the situation, or even to begin implementing one.
There's still a long way to go. But if anyone here thinks the cultural industry is gaining considerable weight, they should be told that it could weigh much more if it were given the consideration it deserves, with decent working conditions and adequate, or at least sufficient, economic and technical resources. We would also do everything possible to increase its weight if all it generates were truly valued—not only in terms of GDP, but above all as a social, educational, and identity-forming force.
Only by increasing its recognition and resources could we properly speak of the true weight of culture. Because the cultural industry is not the same as culture itself: that which explains us, connects us, and, even amidst precariousness, continues to sustain our way of seeing the world.
