A cultural credit card for all

400 words

The proposal here is straightforward enough. But the reasoning behind the concept is more sophisticated.

I. A cultural credit card would be delivered annually to everyone, including children. It would resemble and work like the telephone cards which were commonplace thirty years ago. That is, it would be a piece of plastic with a value impregnated on it. It would not be attached to the identity of the recipient and could easily and legally be traded, either as barter or for cash. It would expire after one and a half years.

Its purpose is to pay for in-person (“live”) events such as concerts and plays (theatre), or entrance to art exhibitions and museums. It would not be valid for the cinema and similar. It is to pay artists, performers and the like where their physical presence is the defining feature.

Only registered associations / organisations would be able to access (i.e. withdraw) the funds recorded on the cards.

II. The purpose of the cultural credit card is to encourage and subsidise attendance at such events and venues.

Since the invention of recorded music and film, most artists and performers have struggled to generate income. High-paid celebrities are the exception.

The State, state-sponsored media and otherwise wealthy corporations or individuals have stepped into the breach. It is they and their bureaucrats who decide who should be subsidised and who go empty-handed. Needless to say, their judgement and decisions leave much to be desired.

Depending on the annual value assigned to the cultural card, all this intermediate funding could be abolished. This includes various subsidies which are cumbersome to obtain. The revenues obtained by performers etc. would be tax-free.

The result would be devolution of cultural choice to consumers as a whole, as befits a proper market economy.

People who cannot or do not wish to attend the qualifying events and venues would be able to sell their cards at a price to be determined by the market. This would be advantageous to people who attend many concerts or venues.

Growing children would be able to learn to spend their “money” and would experience live culture such as pantomime at first hand.

I have left spectator sport (e.g. football matches) out of the list of qualifying events. This is an area where there is no need for subsidy. Nor does my understanding of culture extend to suchlike.