The Flanders – Basque Country programme will culminate with a congress tacking the relationship between both territories through art and the Atlantic.

The congress, organised in collaboration with the Catholic University of Leuven will be held on 17 and 18 October in Leuven

The Flanders - Basque Country cultural cooperation programme can be broken down into 13 projects and 43 actions with the participation of over 100 artists and professionals

Today, Etxepare Euskal Institutua presented the Art Overseas Between Flanders and the Basque Country Congress at Tabakalera (San Sebastián). The congress will bring the Flanders – Basque Country (Flandes - Euskadi/Vlaanderen – Baskeland) programme to a close. This bilateral cultural and artistic cooperation programme was held in 2023 and 2024 in both territories. The press conference was hosted by the first Vice-President of the Basque Government, or Vice-Lehendakari, and the Basque Minister for Culture and Language Policy, Ibone Bengoetexea; the director of the Etxepare Euskal Institutua, Irene Larraza; and the coordinator of the congress and professor at UPV/EHU Aintzane Erkizia. The occasion also served as an opportunity to take stock of the initiative that has seen closer ties developed between artists and cultural stakeholders in Flanders and the Basque Country, offering the public the chance to enjoy the regions’ respective high-quality and innovative creative scene through an extensive multidisciplinary offering.

Since the Flanders-Basque Country programme began in 2023, a total of 43 actions have been undertaken (symposia, artistic residences, concerts, performances, exhibitions, film screenings and conferences) across 13 bilateral collaboration projects. Over 29 groups, sectoral associations and cultural stakeholders and institutions were involved in the programme and over 100 artists and professionals have participated.

The Flanders – Basque Country programme was made possible thanks to collaboration on three levels: between artists and creators from Flanders and the Basque Country; between the sectoral and institutional ecosystem including, among others, organisations like Azkuna Zentroa, Tabakalera, Zirkozaurre and Dantzagunea in the Basque Country and Morpho, LLS Paleis, M Museum and Zirkuszentrum in Flanders and governmental collaboration between the General Secretariat for Foreign Action of the Basque Government and the Flanders Arts Institute. At the same time, the initiative was made possible through profound mutual knowledge of the cultural and creative fabric, consolidating the foundations for a long-term relationship.

Basque Country and Flanders through art

The Flanders – Basque Country programme will culminate with an academic congress in collaboration with the Catholic University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) which will take place on 17 and 18 October at the M Museum in Leuven. Under the title “Art Overseas between Flanders and the Basque Country,” the congress will explore, through art, the deep links between both regions. The event, coordinated by the professor and researcher at UPV/EHU Aintzane Erkizia, will bring together art historians, academics and artists from Flanders and the Basque Country to analyse how art reflects the cultural exchange that has forged the identity of these two territories and their cultural systems connected by the Atlantic.

The relationship between Flanders and the Basque Country, which goes back centuries, developed primarily through the sea, a shared route that provided for the constant flow of goods, ideas and people. For centuries, artworks travelled alongside goods and today, the Flemish influence is clear to see in Basque art, a legacy that will be the subject of discussion during this congress.

The event will look to highlight how inhabitants of the coasts have directed their gaze towards other shores, forging new communities and cultural connections. With appearances from experts in art and representatives of the contemporary artistic sphere, the congress promises to be a platform for understanding art not only as an aesthetic object but as the living testimony of exchange between cultures and territories.

A co-created programme

The Flanders – Basque Country programme was first envisaged after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two governments in 2021, including culture and the cultural and creative industries among the areas of cooperation. In 2021 and 2022, Etxepare Euskal Institutua and its Flemish partner, the Flanders Arts Institute, in collaboration with the Lehendakari’s office and that of the Chancellor and the Department of Culture of Flanders, organised working visits to the Basque Country and Flanders to discover the respective cultural and creative ecosystems and their international centres of reference. These visits allowed for the cultural connections to be established between creators and cultural stakeholders and the generation of trusted spaces to experiment and develop joint projects that ultimately formed the spine of the Flanders - Basque Country programme. The Basque and Flemish Governments also launched a number of calls for submissions to foster and incentivise cultural cooperation between the two territories. Most of the projects that have ultimately emerged over the last two years are the result of this process.

In 2023 and 2024, a stable framework was established to foster the cultural, creative and artistic relationship between Flanders and the Basque Country over the long term.

Etxepare Euskal Institutua

Etxepare Euskal Institutua is a Basque public body that works to promote the Basque language, culture and creative sectors internationally and to build lasting relationships with other regions, countries and cultures. As part of this activity it fosters quality artistic activities and supports the mobility of artistic creators and cultural and creative sector professionals, as well as Basque studies. It also fosters collaboration with international stakeholders in the cultural and academic spheres.