The idea is great: give 500 euros to each 18-year-old for cultural activities and goods.
It is more complicated to implement.
Three years after this electoral promise from candidate Macron, a little over a year and a half after the start of his experimentation in 5 and 14 departments, where is the Pass Culture?
Heckled, he "had a difficult birth", recognizes Isabelle Giordano, president of the strategic committee of the Pass, but since then, she assures him, it has taken off.
"The device will reach 100,000 registered this week, out of a target population of 137,000, it is very encouraging, it shows that it is a useful tool and requested by young people," she said.
Tirelessly, the journalist takes her pilgrim's staff to defend the principle of this Pass.
She is now asking for it to be extended to all of France.
“Now is the time to generalize it,” she says.
Like everyone else, I wondered whether it was necessary to stop or, given the extent of the crisis, but I believe that, more than ever, young people need this tool for their cultural expenses than they do. can no longer assure ”.
Some 800,000 young people would then be affected.
In its recommendations, the committee she chairs advocated January 1.
"It is a useful tool and requested by young people", affirms Isabelle Giordano, president of the Steering Committee of the Pass Culture./LP/Philippe Lavieille
The file is now on the desk of Roselyne Bachelot, the Minister of Culture, and especially that of the President of the Republic who keeps an eye on this baby.
They will have to decide on the basis of the results of the experiment.
A mixed review.
Thus, if the milestone of 100,000 users is crossed, its owners have spent only 120 euros on average out of the 500 allocated.
An amount that could increase to 300 or even 250 euros
“Cultural consumption is not just a question of money, one concludes, in particular, at the Elysee Palace.
In a society of permanent zapping, young people use their Pass a lot at the beginning and almost more after.
We re-launch them with newsletters.
Their loyalty is an issue.
Most even forgets that they have these 500 euros "" Young people use the Pass, they are active, but the amount must be reduced, "said Isabelle Giordano for her part.
It could be reduced "to 300 or even 250 euros", she says.
This Pass takes the form of an application on which nearly 4,000 cultural players offer offers that the holder can benefit from in one click.
Among them, bookstores take the lion's share.
They are 8 in the top 10 of the most reserved offers, including five in the first places, OCS and Deezer completing the list.
An influx of young people into bookstores
“In the beginning it was tedious, we had to create each offer one by one,” remembers Laure-Anne Cappellesso, from the Dialogues bookstore in Brest, fourth in the Top 10. “Then we were able to include all our stock and there we have seen an influx of requests arrive, she continues.
Since the beginning we have counted 16,000 orders ”.
"It's a surprise, nobody expected that the book is what young people ask for the most", recognizes Morgane Payock-Monthé, from the bookstore La malle aux Histoires, in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) , 9th in the Top 10. “We were quite reluctant at the start, it was a bit complicated, but we decided to go for it,” she continues.
For once young people were going to have 200 euros for books
(Editor's note: the spending limit for books with the Pass)
, they had to be supported ”.
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And to stress, like his Breton colleague, "that 18 years do not usually come to bookstores."
"It's an audience that we don't know, to such an extent that when there is one who enters we spot it, we say to ourselves, hold a Culture Pass," she smiles.
It brings young people, they are well received and see that it is not elitist, it is important ”.
Deezer offers, at 14.97 euros for 3 months or OCS, 29.97 euros for three months also, complete the top 10. At the end of June, offers for Pathé Gaumont cards were also very successful.
In five weeks, 2,400 unlimited 6-month subscriptions and 1,600 5-seat passes have elapsed. On the app, there are still museums - the Louvre is in the top 20, the Palais de Tokyo is very active - workshops and artistic courses, some offers of live performance as well.
The offer on the app is gradually expanding
Subsidized stages, for the most part, La Colline or the theater 13, the Comédie Française which should soon offer the shows of its new season, the Odeon too, but relatively few private rooms.
The theaters of Jean-Marc Dumontet, close to Emmanuel Macron, are included, but not large Parisian theaters.
“We were approached at the start, but it was such a gas plant that the question has not been resolved since, breathes this Parisian theater manager.
At the time, it seemed like we were almost selling at a loss.
It was more profitable for us to sell a place at the price - from 26 years to 10 euros that comes to the town of Paris to the tune of 5 euros “, he continues.
A special offer for young people among others which would nevertheless have the vocation to appear on the Pass, which Giordano also imagines as "an aggregator of all these possibilities reserved for under 26 years, free or not, and which very often they do not know" .
As a special young cultural guide, the credit allocated in addition.
Little by little, as the teams work in the field, the offer on the app is growing.
An agreement has just been signed with the meeting of the operas of France so that all of their shows are available there, another with a Breton network of cinemas… However, some actors are still reluctant.
"But it brings them money and the public, young, who tend to disappear from places of culture," says Isabelle Giordano.
“At 18, like a passage, there is the driver's license, the right to vote and the Culture Pass with this idea of training a citizen, she pleads.
The culture that makes people grow, opens the critical mind and helps fight against prejudices is present in this Pass ”.
"500 euros, it's a chance to have that, you have to take advantage of it"
The 100,000 young people registered for the Culture Pass benefit from their 500 euros in a disparate way.
Like the offers, more or less numerous depending on the region.
Deborah, 47 euros of credit.
“The offers have diversified and the app is more ergonomic, it greatly facilitates research”, underlines Deborah, 20 years old today, among the first beneficiaries.
He has 47 euros left.
The law student who lives in Le Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis) bought books, often at La malle aux Histoires, in Pantin, attended a ballet at the Palais des Congrès, visited the Paris Opera, took online music and photography lessons, followed by public speaking lessons ...
Marianne, 250 euros of credit.
In Vannes (Morbihan), Marianne, she "bought a lot of vinyls", also a ticket for the Vieilles Charrues festival, books too.
“It gave me back the desire to read, I am a student and it is not always given, I had stopped a little, she explains.
500 euros is a huge budget, it's a chance to have that, you have to take advantage of it ”.
To date, she has spent about half.
“There aren't enough offers everywhere,” she points out, “when I'm in Vannes, it's okay, there are things, but when I'm at my parents, in Pontivy, it's more complicated ".
Her little sister is about to turn 18 and can't wait to register.
Pierre, 500 euros of credit.
“I saw an ad on Instagram, I went to see, I said to myself, 500 euros!
Oh yes anyway ".
Pierre lives near Avignon, in the Vaucluse.
He has been 18 since July and signed up in August.
Since then he has not spent a euro, having "found nothing of interest".
"I look from time to time, if I find something, ok, otherwise I will not force myself".
He did look for a few volumes from a manga series, but they were available… in Brittany.
Erine, 12.50 euros credit.
Living in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), the history student made the most of it.
“I bought all the Harry Potters, a guitar, I went to the museum, to the Louis Vuitton foundation and to the Grand Palais, to the Eiffel Tower, on the riverboats, I took Deezer and Canal + offers , I bought Michelle Obama's book ”.
On the phone, the young woman talks about what she did with her credit.
“When I saw an offer, I let myself be tempted,” she explains.
I used to go to the museum a bit, but with the Pass I discovered a lot, some free.
Now I am more interested in culture.
"
Amandine, 442 euros of credit.
Registered this summer, the young woman has "not done much for the moment".
The new law student took Deezer and Canal + subscriptions “that I discovered on this occasion”.
She also visited the Opéra Garnier with a friend.
“It made me want to attend a ballet”.
"When I got the Pass, I said I was great, more outings, more culture, it's the opportunity to discover things and places that I did not know".
However, she does not want to rush.
“It's not
I have 500 euros let's go
, no, I look, I put offers in favorites and I think, she explains.
I want to use them as well as possible ”.