The Ministry of Culture has announced an investment of 3 million euros to promote cultural activity in rural areas, framed within its Cultural Rights Plan. The initiative seeks to decentralize the cultural offering, often concentrated in large urban centers, and guarantee access to artistic creation in towns and depopulated areas.
The digital divide and connectivity as a cultural requirement 🌐
For this investment to have a real impact, technological infrastructure is key. Without fiber optics or stable 5G networks in rural areas, any cultural digitization project (event streaming, virtual workshops, or interactive archives) hits a wall. The plan should prioritize connectivity as an enabling requirement, otherwise, part of the budget will evaporate trying to upload content at a 90s modem speed.
The town hall's wifi as an exhibition hall 📡
The measure sounds good, but one remembers that in many towns the biggest cultural event of the year is the summer festival and the patron saint's procession. Now, with 3 million, maybe we can have a theater workshop in the same place where lottery tickets are sold. Of course, let's hope it doesn't all end up in an online course on how to dance jotas with virtual reality, because the connection cuts out every time it rains and the monitor gets stuck in a loop.