What is France’s free ‘pass Culture’ and how is it changing in 2026?
The scheme aims to facilitate young people’s access to culture
The pass Culture is designed to help young people gain easier access to cultural activities such as museums, theatre and cinema
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France’s pass Culture is set to change in 2026, including the introduction of a new app, and a reduction in the amount available for online offers.
What is the ‘pass Culture’?
The pass Culture was launched in 2021, and is a scheme designed to help young people gain easier access to cultural activities and experiences.
This includes:
Music and audiobooks
Museum, theatre, and cinema tickets
Musical instruments
Access to arts and heritage centres, etc.
It exists for individuals and collectives (such as establishments that work with young people).
Since March 1 2025, the pass has enabled 17-year-olds to access an annual allowance of €50 (reduced from €100 previously), and 8-year-olds to access €150 (down from €300 previously). Those aged 18 or over are also eligible for a bonus of €50 if they have disabilities or meet certain social criteria.
The amounts can be used until the day before the holder turns 21.
The allowance for 15-16 year-olds, which previously existed, was also scrapped from March 1, 2025.
What is changing in 2026?
A new decree, published in the Journal Officiel on December 30, 2025, outlines changes to the scheme for 2026.
Reduction in the amount available for online offers. This has been reduced to €50 from €100. ‘Online offers’ refers to digital items including music and audio purchases, audiobooks, video games, or press. The new limit does not apply to people with a disability.
New areas of activity added. These are design/arts and crafts; and scientific, technical and industrial culture.
Escape games and leisure activities are no longer eligible (unless offered by a cultural operator in the authorised areas).
Simplified pass Culture account creation. Young people in education can now create an account by authenticating via the platform Educonnect, with an access code provided by their school.
Wider range of organisations can offer cultural events on the platform. Local authorities and local public institutions in the field of culture are now authorised to offer events with pass Culture.
Discounts and other assistance schemes may still remain eligible for funding, but only if the materials or experiences fall within the eligible types of cultural media.
The pass Culture is not available for any offers or media from operators whose main activity “falls within the remit of a political or religious organisation”, the government Service Public website states.
Similarly, the new decree makes it easier for “any personal account whose use contravenes the terms and conditions of use” to be deleted by authorities (the Ministry of Culture, which oversees the scheme).
New app
Also new for 2026 is a pass Culture app, which launched on January 15.
Its main aim is to enable pass holders to search for cultural activities near them, using their smartphone geolocation tools.
The app is free and available on smartphones (on both iOS and Android), or computers. Eligible users are recommended to create an account so they can use all features and receive their credits.
Users can then book activities and spend their credits via the app.
It comes as France is aiming to ban social media use for under-15s, in a move that President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed as a “major step” in protecting young people.
In a video released by BFMTV, he said: “The brains of our children and our teenagers are not for sale. The emotions of our children and our teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated. Neither by American platforms, nor by Chinese algorithms.”
