The Ministry of Culture is accelerating the deployment of the Culture Pass. On 22 July it set up a simplified joint-stock company with the Banque des Territoires de la Caisse des Dépôts in order to entrust it with the management of this mission of general interest. For the Bank of Territories, this ambition to offer all young people in France access to cultural works and services is part of its action for the benefit of more inclusive territories.

The company will continue to be socially useful within the meaning of Article 2 of Law No. 2014-856 of 31 July 2014 and will be responsible in particular for gradually rolling out the Culture Pass throughout the country, reference and highlight the cultural operators' offers and ensure dynamic management of the beneficiaries' accounts. The company will also have to create the appropriate conditions for the sustainability of the Culture Pass, including its generalization to all eligible 18-year-olds and will consider the development of commercial activities to ensure a significant part of its funding.

To conduct this mission, the President of the Republic appointed, on the proposal of the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Economy and Finance, on 24 July Mr. Damien Cuier President of the company pass Culture. A senior official who began his career at the Ministry of Finance (budget department, ministerial offices), he then headed several audiovisual companies in the public and private sectors.

The Strategic Committee of Society, which gives a large place to civil society actors, will be the governance body in charge of proposing the strategy, monitoring its implementation and evaluating the results of the Culture pass. It will be composed of:

- From a representative of the State: Hervé Barbaret, Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture

- Members appointed on the proposal of the State:

  • Isabelle Giordano (President), journalist and president of Cinema pour tous;
  • Gilles Duffau, responsible for e-culture and heritage projects at the Caisse des Dépôts et des Consignations;
  • Julien Hista, Budget Department of the Ministry of Accounts and Public Action;
  • Frédéric Jousset, founder and Co-Chair of Webhelp;
  • Géraldine Lacroix, senior expert at the Bank of Territories;
  • Bruno Laforestrie, Director of Mouv’;
  • Benoît Parizet, Director of Digital Strategy at the Bank of Territories;
  • Marie Villette, Director General of the Public Establishment of the Park and the Grande Halle de la Villette;
  • Zahia Ziouani, conductor and musical director of the Divertimento Symphony Orchestra.

- An employee representative will then complete its composition.

Promise of campaign of the President of the Republic, the Culture pass is a new public service carried by the Ministry of Culture, whose vocation is to respond to the thirst for culture and discovery of the younger generations, and to facilitate meetings between audiences and cultural stakeholders in all disciplines.

To remove barriers, including financial barriers, every 18-year-old citizen, French or legally resident on French territory, who is a refugee or stateless, will benefit from a €500 purchasing power to be used on the «Pass Culture» platform to access cultural works and services: film spaces, shows, exhibitions, books, musical instruments, works of art, subscriptions to video-on-demand services, meetings, job discovery, artistic practices, internships...

In experimentation since 1er February 2019, a first version of the service is already accessible to all 18-year-olds living in one of the 14 experimental departments: Bas-Rhin, Finistère, Guyane, Hérault, Seine-Saint-Denis, Côtes-d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Morbihan, Ardennes, Doubs, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Val-de-Marne and Vaucluse.

A review of the current experiment will be conducted with all stakeholders in the fall of 2019 and published in October 2019. All information, including registration procedures for beneficiaries and cultural actors, is available on the site https://pass.culture.en/