Barcelona's digital currency will discount the consumption of culture by 50%

The REC citizen currency (citizen economic resource) promoted by the Barcelona City Council puts into circulation a cultural version, the REC Cultural, "which rewards cultural consumption and rewards access to culture".

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
18 July 2022 Monday 08:01
11 Reads
Barcelona's digital currency will discount the consumption of culture by 50%

The REC citizen currency (citizen economic resource) promoted by the Barcelona City Council puts into circulation a cultural version, the REC Cultural, "which rewards cultural consumption and rewards access to culture". The pilot test will be launched in the neighborhoods of Sants and Poble Sec for half a year, from September to February.

The City Council allocates 200,000 euros to this initiative, which has two aspects. Half of the budget will increase by 50% the money that the citizen enters in the digital application. In other words, if a person from Barcelona puts 10 euros into their mobile application, this money will automatically increase to 15 euros. The limit per citizen is 200 euros (which will become 300), until the budget is exhausted.

The other 100,000 euros go to 500 families in vulnerable situations (016), who will receive a check for 200 euros to spend in establishments, cultural centers and facilities in the Sants and Poble Sec neighborhoods that have joined the initiative , like most of the Montjuïc museums, bookstores, civic centers, etc.

Parity with the euro, the REC Cultural "has a social perspective, to discount the consumption of culture," says Laura Pérez, deputy mayor of the area of ​​Social Rights, Global Justice, Feminism and LGTBI of Barcelona, ​​who adds that the objective "It is to democratize access to culture."

According to Pérez, there is an important part of the citizenry that does not have access to culture for economic reasons, and "Barcelona wants to put culture at the center, also among children", with this collaboration between the ICUB and the Social Rights area .

Dani Granados, Cultural Rights delegate of the City Council, highlights “the transversality of the initiative, because cultural policy has to go further, it has to be a transforming policy within society. Culture is basic to contribute to the fight against inequalities and complete the cultural rights of citizenship”.

"We are talking about supporting creation, mitigating the precariousness of the sector," says Granados. "The links between culture and other sectors mean that this Cultural REC favors the local economy while generating a boost for cultural rights."

Sants and Poble Sec "are above average in terms of cultural facilities, 6% of the city," continues Granados, a good test for analyzing habits and consumption.

Luca Gervasoni, director of the Novact association, in charge of coin design, states that "citizen digital currencies are already a reality in many European cities." Novact has detected that, based on the experience of the Eix Besòs, 50% of consumption is destined for local trade.

"The reception between facilities, services and shops has been very good in the previous works", says Gervasoni, with a figure that reaches 50%. The date of September 1 has been chosen to launch the pilot test to coincide with the opening of civic centers and other entities, which open courses and workshops.

To access the digital currency, you need to download the REC Barcelona application on your mobile, which works like a wallet where the user puts money for consumption, which will automatically increase by 50% to use it in the participating places and that the application specifies, "so that local trade is also promoted." Barcelona will be a pioneer city in Europe in the application of a digital currency in the social rights of culture and, based on the pilot test, scalability in the rest of the city will be studied.