Basque Research Centers and Public Institutions
· Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno
Established in 1967 as a program within the social sciences division of the Great Basin Institute to study the Basque as an integral part of the sheep industry that had influenced the development of the Intermountain West, over time (and since incorporated officially into the University of Nevada, Reno), the Center for Basque Studies has become the leading research and educational institute of its kind outside the European Basque homeland. The Center for Basque Studies at UNR houses the John Bilbao Basque Library, one of the world’s largest collections of Basque-related materials, currently at 55,000 volumes.
· Basque Studies at the University of the Basque Country
Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, the University of the Basque Country, is a public university founded in 1980. It has campuses in the three provinces of the Basque Autonomous Community or Euskadi: the Bizkaia campus, the Gipuzkoa campus, and the Araba campus. The motto of the university is "eman ta zabal zazu" (give and distribute [the fruit]), from Jose Maria Iparragirre's 1853 song Gernikako Arbola (the Tree of Gernika). The Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies is located in the Araba campus, in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.
The Etxepare Basque Institute is a public agency created by the Basque Government in 2010. The Institute is named after Bernat Etxepare, author of Linguae Vasconum Primitiae, the first book to be published in the Basque language, or Euskara. The Institute works to enhance the international presence and visibility of the Basque language and contemporary creativity.
· IKER Center for the Research of Basque Language and Basque Texts
Located in Baiona (Bayonne), in the Northern province of Lapurdi (Labourd), IKER was founded in 1999 by the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), the Bordeaux Montaigne University, and the University of Pau and the Adour Region. It is the only center dedicated to Basque Studies in the French state.
· Institute of Basque Studies at the University of Deusto
The Institute of Basque Studies at the University of Deusto was founded in 1974 and since 2009 it is part of the Center for Social Sciences at the same institution. The Institute for Basque Studies hosts Euskaldok, the Basque Documentation Center, which collects and offers references, information, and advice on Basque Studies.
Basque Cultural Centers and Societies in the U.S.
· Basque Educational Organization
A San Francisco-based non-profit organization whose purpose is to honor the Basque culture by celebrating its history and rich tradition in the arts. The BEO offers two scholarships to students currently enrolled or who will be attending a U.S. affiliated accredited college or university.
Website that explores the Basque presence in the state of California from the early days of colonialism to the present.
· North American Basque Organizations
The North American Basque Organizations (NABO) was founded in 1973 with the intent of combining the resources of Basque-American organization to preserve and promote the Basque heritage. The organization’s website offers information on member organizations in California.
Museums
· Basque Museum & Cultural Center in Boise (Idaho)
The mission of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center is to preserve, promote and perpetuate Basque history and culture in the U.S. Museum collections include oral history archives, a library, a collection of records and tapes, manuscript materials, and numerous artifacts and photographs from the Basque Country and its diaspora in North America.
Artium represents the benchmark among museums of Contemporary Art. This is thanks to a collection which, boasting almost 3,000 individual works principally by artists of Basque and Spanish origin. The museum also houses the Documentation Centre for Basque Women Artists: Feminist Artistic Practices and Art Theories which offers a specialized research space that brings together documentation related to artistic practices analyzed by feminist studies.
The Basque Museum of Baiona houses the biggest ethnographic collection in the Northern Basque provinces. The collection comprises more than 80,000 paintings, graphic art, photographs, and furniture among other objects.
The Basque Museum of Bilbao opened to the public in 1921, and is located in a Baroque-style building in Bilbao's old quarter. The museum takes a look at the ethnography of the Basque people through various exhibits and objects. In addition to the value of the building and its central cloister, the collections it contains include everything from the oldest remnants found in the region of Vizcaya, through to examples of the traditional ways of life of the Basque peoples. Its exhibits enable visitors to learn about the sea, fishing and sailing, the iron and weapons industries, commercial and mercantile activities, as well as traditional trades and crafts. It also schedules temporary monographic exhibits. The museum’s website offers the possibility of consulting part of its collection online.
The origins of the present museum lie in the first Fine Arts Museum that was founded in 1908 and which opened its doors in 1914 and the Modern Art Museum that opened in 1924. Both museums and their respective collections became one to all effects in 1945, which was when the first, original building was built. The museum houses a valuable and quite comprehensive collection of Basque, Spanish, and European art from the Middle Ages to contemporary times.
The Gernika Peace Museum, formerly known as the Gernika Museum, was founded on April 7, 1998. Gernika represents the Basque Country's greatest symbol of freedom, and after the infamous bombing of the city which took place during the Civil War, it became a pacifist emblem. The permanent exhibition approaches the subject of peace from different points of view, as well as the history of Gernika. The museum also has two video rooms, a conference room, and a documentation center on the bombing of Gernika.
The Oteiza Museum in Navarre is a monographic exhibition space housing the personal collection of the renowned all-round sculptor and artist Jorge Oteiza (Orio, 1908-Donostia-San Sebastian, 2003). The collection includes 1,690 sculptures, 2,000 experimental pieces from the artist’s Chalk Laboratory, and an extensive collection of drawings and collages.
The San Telmo Museum, inaugurated in 1902, is the oldest in the Basque Country. It is the only museum dedicated to Basque society with over 35,000 pieces divided into different categories: Ethnography, Fine Arts, Photography, Archaeology, and History. Part of the museum collection can be consulted on the internet.
Chillida Leku’s mission is to universalize the work and thought of Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Its objectves include collecting, cataloging, and preserving all documentation and activities related to the artist, as well as contributing to the research and study of Chillida’s work by facilitating access to said information. For this reason, the museum houses both the archive that contains Eduardo Chillida’s documentary legacy and a specialized library.
Media
· Argia
Weekly magazine in Basque which covers Basque culture and both national and international current affairs. Some of its content is offered in English translation.
The Basque Film Archive was founded in 1978 for the purose of researchin, recovering, archiving, conserving, and screening films and audio-visual work of interest for the study of cinema, with particular dedication to Basque cinema. The Archive also collects and safeguards documentation and technical material whose conservation is culturally of historically relevant.
· Berria
Berria newspaper is the only newspaper published wholly in the Basque language. It has a wide readership in Basque country. It publishes news on current affairs, political, business and analysis, market, education , health and technology, life style, fashion, sports, arts and much more.
Euskal Irrati Telebista (Basque Radio Television) is the first communication group in the Basque Country with five TV channels, five radio stations, and a website. The latter offers free access to a selection of films in Basque.
Website that specializes in news from the Basque diasporas in the Americas and other parts of the world.
· Kimuak
Kimuak is a program that annually selects the best short films made in the Basque Country. The short films selected since 1998 are available through the program’s website.