How do you get teenagers and adolescents actively interested and engaged in the subject of art and culture in a rapidly changing social media world? This is the dilemma faced by the French government in recent years and from the rummaging, an innovative solution has sprung up — a smartphone app that literally credits them with money to spend on art and cultural expeditions.

Culture Pass, as the program is called, is a long-conceived initiative by French President Emmanuel Macron to fund cultural activities for young people nationally. It has now been rolled out nationally after a successful regional test run. 

As of Friday, May 21, when the program officially came into use, over 800,000 eighteen-year-olds in France are eligible to sign up. There are plans to extend the app to high schools across the nation in 2022.

The app works by activating a pass on a smartphone, which gives the user access to €300 ($367) to spend over the course of two years on tickets to art shows or movies, or to buy drawing materials, instruments, and other offerings.

Eligible users can attend museums or cinemas, take dance or music lessons, subscribe to music or video platforms, or buy books. Nicknamed the “GPS of culture,” the pass also prioritizes French creative businesses, such as Deezer, France’s version of Spotify.

The current rollout, timed to the reopening of cultural venues in France, seems more tactful. the Élysée Palace received reservations from 125,000 users of the Culture Pass. In the test, which was implemented across various departments, 73 percent reporting discovering new cultural activities and 32 percent went to the museum for the first time in 2021. To crown it all, books were ordered more than video games.

This is a vindication for Macron whose detractors had been vocal against the initiative when it was first proposed in 2019. Some officials had said it is too expensive and commercial. “At the very moment when culture is at a standstill when artists are dying in our country, we’re pouring €59 million into the Culture Pass,” said senator Jean-Raymond Hugonet at the time. “It’s not the right time, not the right formula, not the right process.”

However, Macron restated his strong belief in the program, which he hoped will add to the country’s cultural revival after the pandemic. 

The pass, which was initially supposed to offer €500 ($612), has also been reduced to two sums: high schoolers will receive €200 for the first two years, and then €300 when they are 18 to be used for another two years.