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Open doors. Culture as a tool for youth participation in democracy
When there is a generation that has found so many closed doors, observing one that is ajar can be revolutionary. Political action often forgets the more than 2.6 million young Spaniards who expect the news to talk about them without stigma, without broad brush analysis, to talk about them with them. Incorporating a young perspective into institutions is fundamental because a great intergenerational alliance can be sewn within them, and culture can be the thread that makes it possible.
In the summer of 2021, in a cultural center in Madrid, a dozen cultural workers under the age of 35 wondered how they could transform the great cultural administrations. “We want to find doors to knock on” says one of the components of Galaxxia, the platform that organized the meeting. Around the same dates, a group of young people from the platform “The future is now” went to the Congress of Deputies to demand specific measures for work, housing, mental health or the environment. But they also demanded stable spaces for intergenerational dialogue to make their voices heard. According to a survey carried out by this platform, 87% of young people feel little or not represented by political parties and 92% consider that their opinion does not matter to the people who govern them.
Meanwhile, throughout the territory, thousands of young people spend much of their time listening to music, reading books or comics, drawing, watching movies and playing video games. These artistic expressions work for them as vehicles with which to develop their own ideas about life, generate emotional bonds and make a critical look at the social context that surrounds us. On occasions, the culture also allows them to express their longing for a decent life and their need for an empathetic politician, who knows how to listen, observe and give them the opportunity to decide on their most immediate present. The ability of young artists to encourage us to change the world is well known.
Many of us are worried because something is wrong with them to our young people. The European Parliament has declared 2022 as “European Year of Youth”, and urges us to urgently promote the participation of young people in public policies at all levels. Culture is a great starting point for this work because its values, its ideals and its universal language are key elements in the emancipation of a generation that is called to be the vanguard of our society.
In this spirit, the cultural bonus of 400 euros per year for people who turn 18, which has already been announced by the Government, is intended to promote more universal access to culture for young people, regardless of their social status or their place of residence. A measure that accompanies others such as the youth rental bonus, the increase in scholarships and student aid or the labor reform that seeks to put an end to temporary hiring. All of them are giant steps towards resolving some of the structural obstacles that impede a young person’s integration into adult life and democracy.
But we can do more. We can open the doors of the spaces where decisions are made so that young people can participate. There are already two pioneering initiatives in Spain that are doing it. On the one hand, the Government of La Rioja has opened a call to select a team of 30 people between the ages of 18 and 35 to design pilot projects to promote the development of the rural environment. It is the “#G30 Youth La Rioja”. And for its part, the Barcelona City Council currently has a public consultation space open made up of 99 young people between the ages of 16 and 29. The objective in both cases is to define municipal youth policies for the coming years in line with the problems and concerns of these citizens.
In the cultural field, there are some initiatives in Europe in which young people are included in the development of cultural policies. The formats are varied and range from permanent spaces of contrast and co-governance to groups for the preparation of recommendations and cross-dissemination of the same among the government areas involved. In Spain, we can talk about the advisory council Teen Team that we created back in the day at the Matadero Madrid contemporary creation center, where twelve people between the ages of 14 and 20 co-programmed the schedule of activities for the Teenagers Festival for four years Festeen. A formula for young people to feel more connected to the center and for council participants to improve their job skills. Both objectives were achieved, but something unexpected and very relevant also happened: the components organized themselves politically to lead the movement “We want to enter”; a process of political influence that culminated in the reform of the law that prohibited the access of minors to concerts in live music venues in the Community of Madrid.
What we want to propose from here, inspired by the motto nothing about us without us, is that we open spaces for meeting and reflection between the areas of Youth and Culture. We also want to urge the Youth Councils, both national and regional, to take culture more into account in their statutes and in their actions. And we want to urge that more legislative and executive initiatives be promoted throughout the territory that allow us to open spaces for youth cultural participation within our governments. In short, that we institute as something common to open formulas for participation and consultation on cultural aspects that directly affect the lives of young people.
An empowered youth, with access to institutional channels and with the support of professionals, can generate the necessary changes to improve their lives and regain confidence in democratic institutions and in the State.
In times of hyperventilation and gaps, Culture can be that oasis where we all fit, a bridge that connects past with future and that is always capable of creating something new. The task is not easy: opening the doors, daring to enter, stepping aside or working from the difference, are tasks that require generosity and effort. We Believe that opening doors young people can only win and learn from a generation that is digital native, with fresh and creative ideas, with enthusiasm, capacity for work and more prepared than any of the previous generations. As scary as new ideas are, no old idea has changed the world.