Blue parties grumble about the new cultural policy: 'Completely wasted taxpayers' money'

Liberal Alliance and The Conservatives criticize new cultural pass: 'Completely waste of taxpayers' money'

Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt sees it differently, believing it is a cheap way to give disadvantaged youth some good experiences.

Liberal Alliance and The Conservatives are displeased that the government and several other parties have agreed to give 43,000 disadvantaged young people free access to cultural life for up to 2,000 Danish crowns.

The disagreement is causing tension in the bourgeois camp at Christiansborg.

- It's symbol politics for 140 million Danish crowns, we have no evidence whatsoever that this will help this target group in education or employment, says Liberal Alliance's cultural spokesperson, Katrine Daugaard, and continues:

- The attempts that have been made in other countries have not had good results, so this is more about culture than the disadvantaged youth, who are the real focus.

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> This is an incredibly irresponsible approach to these disadvantaged young people, and it's a complete waste of taxpayers' money.

> Katrine Daugaard, cultural spokesperson, Liberal Alliance

The cultural pass has previously been used in other countries, both during the coronavirus crisis to support cultural life and to engage more young people in cultural life.

However, experiences from countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands show that it has not been used much or effectively. For example, France distributed 300 euros to 18-year-olds in 2021, but 70% of the money was spent on manga comic books.

Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt, however, is confident that the young people can only use the cultural pass at places approved by the Ministry of Culture – and only if they use it as part of a community.

- If you join a local football club and the membership fee costs 500 Danish crowns a year, then you have spent 1,000 Danish crowns over two years. The remaining 1,000 Danish crowns, which are left, can be used in the theatre troupe. If you don't use them, they go back to the state, says Jakob Engel-Schmidt.

Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt is proud of the new cultural pass.

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'An incredibly irresponsible approach'

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At the press conference, the minister and the coalition parties stated that if just 10% of the 43,000 disadvantaged young people accept the cultural pass, it will be a success.

But Liberal Alliance disagrees.

- This is an incredibly irresponsible approach to these disadvantaged young people, and it's a complete waste of taxpayers' money, says Katrine Daugaard.

And The Conservatives share this view.

- We spend too much money on a cultural pass that doesn't work.

- What works is to work directly with these young people and actors who have already engaged them. That's part of the deal, but it's a too small part, says Birgitte Bergman, who is the cultural spokesperson for The Conservatives.

But Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt disagrees with his blue colleagues. He believes that the cultural pass is a cheap way to do something good for disadvantaged youth.

- If you are a young person who is denied entry to a football club and ends up playing on the team, or if you help a festival with the preparatory work and get to listen to the music, then society has contributed a 1,000-crown voucher to a person who would otherwise have been sitting at home and not gone outside the door, says Jakob Engel-Schmidt.

You can read more about the new cultural pass in this article:

Denmark tries itself for the first time with a cultural pass (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/danmark-forsoeger-sig-foerste-gang-med-et-kulturpas)

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