In 1990, the "non-sporting cultural public show" rating was created in order to exempt certain events from the tax applied to non-sporting public shows (18%). Moreover, as of 1993, the exemption was replicated in the case of the General Sales Tax. In both cases, the rating had to be given by the National Institute of Culture; for this reason, Resolution No. 175-97-INC approved the Regulations for the "Non-sporting Cultural Public Show" Rating.
However, in April 2005, as a consequence of a claim of unconstitutionality, the Constitutional Court established constitutional parameters to be observed when rating non-sporting public events, in order to avoid arbitrary, discriminatory or unjustified statements. The aspects to consider were four (4): i) cultural content, ii) popular access, iii) message, and iv) contribution to cultural development.
Since the creation of the Ministry of Culture in 2011, the evaluation of the public shows rating files was the responsibility of the Directorate of Arts and, subsequently, the General Directorate of Cultural Industries and Arts. Vice Ministerial Resolution No. 004-2015-VMPCIC-MC, dated January 14, 2015, approved Directive No. 001-2015-VMPCIC/MC, Directive on the "Non-sporting Cultural Public Show" Rating (hereinafter, the Directive), which regulates the procedure to be followed to rate a public show as non-sporting cultural.
According to the provisions of paragraph 4 of the Directive, the "Non-sporting Cultural Show" Rating is aimed only at stage plays, zarzuela, opera, ballet, circus, classical music and national folklore concerts, as well as cultural-artistic shows, in accordance with the cultural policy of the ministry and provided that the requirements established in the Single Text of Administrative Procedures of the Ministry of Culture are met.
Based on his 2019 study, Omar Narrea found that tax exemptions to non-sporting cultural events have had a positive effect with regard to their promotion and the removal of their access barriers, as well as to the distribution and characteristics of these shows. He also found that most of the events are organized by private promoters for purely lucrative purposes. Likewise, most of the shows are theater plays, this being the most popular category, although the circus is the one with most presentations. Additionally, it was found that exempted events mainly take place in the traditional Lima districts.
Moreover, he found that all the classical music, ballet, circus, opera, dance and music events that received the "Non-sporting Cultural Show" Rating offered a type of ticket at a popular price, that is, they complied with the requirement of the Ministry of Culture. The percentage of theater and folklore events with popular price tickets was high, although it did not reach 100%. Globally, the proportion of events with "popular access" between 2017 and 2018 was approximately 99%, so it can be considered that in almost all exempted events, a group of tickets are sold at a cost that is economically accessible for all public.
The cultural shows offer has increased in two aspects: (1) the number of events and presentations in a subgroup of genres (theater); and (2) the average capacity per show in all the analyzed subgenres. It was found that since the implementation of the exemptions, there is an increasing trend to use large-capacity venues (capacity between 1,000 and 2,000 people) for cultural events.
Finally, we can clearly see that, between 2017 and 2018, the number of events rated as cultural grew by 11%, with 40 events more from one year to the next. Likewise, the cultural genres that grew in number of events rated as cultural shows within the same years were theater, music and dance.
The number of production companies that participated in the cultural ratings in 2018 was concentrated in the theater genre (104), this being the type of show with the largest presence of production companies and the largest number of events offered to the public (209). The number of theater production companies increased between 2017 and 2018, while the number of shows also increased from one year to the next.
The production companies are betting on offering shows with a lower level of price differentiation, which responds to the average spectator's willingness to pay, given that the rating is not the only factor that has changed between those two years.
The cultural ratings do not encourage the generation of a monopoly of production companies, but rather the democratization of the sector. In other words, artists, artist collectives and cultural centers are encouraged, in a valuable and direct manner, to offer citizens a variety of cultural shows at affordable prices. All this unlike other public subsidies that are monopolized by a few firms or companies.
Finally, the analysis allowed us to observe that the exemptions have led to improvements in the increase of job generation by rated shows. Therefore, it can be stated that tax exemptions cause positive impacts on the access to and promotion of non-sporting cultural events, the quality of the shows and the generation of jobs by them.
The recommendations emphasize the improvement in the quality of information. There are variables that do not provide very relevant data, so the information needs to be collected in a systematized and standardized way. On the other hand, there are variables for which there is no information, and that could be very useful for future analyses, such as, for example, the approximate or budgeted cost to carry out the event, since this would facilitate the calculation of the net benefit of the events, so that the effect of the exemptions can be estimated more accurately.
Likewise, it is vital that, as far as possible, digital versions of the entire administrative process of the impact rating become available, since this allows for the impact studies on the ratings to be made more efficiently. Along these lines, it is essential to consider the design of a virtual system to register the events that request a rating as a non-sporting cultural show with the aim of making the administrative process and the collection of systematized statistical information on the production companies and the registered events more efficient and simple.
Finally, it would be advisable to conduct, in addition to the registration or request forms to obtain the cultural ratings, a survey where information can be obtained on the results of the shows made by the companies benefiting from the cultural ratings. Likewise, it could be interesting to evaluate the implementation of another survey to the production companies that applied for but did not obtain the cultural ratings, in order to characterize their offer.