The San Sebastian Film Festival is back for its 68th edition and, although this is a special year, Basque cinema will once again play an important role. The festival, which runs from today until September 26th, will feature fourteen full-length films, three short films, two series, one medium-length film and another feature film currently in production.

In such a difficult year for culture, the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture has managed to move against the tide. The Óró performing arts project, which fuses not only different artistic disciplines, but also diverse minority language cultures, is one of the initiatives they have managed to keep on the programme. Dancer and choreographer Amaia Elizaran will be representing Basque culture. Elizaran shared her feelings about the experience with us.

Basque comic strips will once again be represented at the prestigious Brussels Comic Strip Festival Fête de la BD, with the participation of Basque illustrator Maite Gurrutxaga. Celebrated every year since 2010, this year’s event will maintain its characteristic high-octane style with a special program combining face-to-face and online activities, with measures in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

This festival and competition, which aims to showcase music and performing arts in European minority languages, will organize a special outdoor event on August 30. The Basque rapper La Basu, among other artists, will be present at the event held at the Castle of Udine (Friuli).

After a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 11th edition of the Berlin Biennale will run from September 5 to November 1. Basque artist Azucena Vieites will join other artists to present her work.

The summer barnetegi (Basque internship program) organized by Aurten Bai started last week online. The threat of COVID-19 has brought about the first ever online barnetegi. But students are facging the challenge with enthusiasm and optimism.

On July 8 and 9, the 10th edition of the ‘Bikaintasuna Euskal Ikasketetan’ (´Excellence in Basque Studies´) summer course was held at the Miramar Palace in Donostia. This activity, organized by the Etxepare Basque Institute in collaboration with the UPV/EHU Summer Courses, aims to train the readership instructors who teach Basque language and culture in foreign universities.

The Basque language and culture readers and instructors working at universities around the world through the Etxepare Basque Institute gathered this morning at Tabakalera to evaluate the year and reflect on future challenges. Some of them attended in person, while others connected online.

One of the main goals of the Etxepare Basque Institute is to promote the many Basque artistic disciplines among international audiences. Year after year, the Institute uses different tools to achieve this goal. The 2019 in numbers series allows us to draw attention to our work in different artistic disciplines. Today we turn the spotlight on other cultural initiatives to support Basque culture worldwide.

The Jon Bilbao Chair, which consists of a research residency at the Center for Basque Studies (CBS) at the University of Nevada, Reno, has already selected a new expert for this edition. The project presented by Asier Barandiaran was selected for a several month research study to be carried out in Reno, Nevada, USA.