Joint Basque cultural heritage in Iceland, Spain and France revitalized by sustainable means”: BASQUE

Programme(s): Creative Europe Programme (CREA)-undefined

Topic: CREA-CULT-2022-COOP-1

Type of action: CREA Lump Sum Grants

Project ID: 101100068

Objective: 

The project, “Joint Basque cultural heritage in Iceland, Spain and France revitalized by sustainable means” (acronym BASQUE) aims at
establishing a permanent Basque Exhibition Centre in an old herring factory in Djupavik, a small village in the Icelandic Westfjords that has
experienced depopulation for the last few decades. The exhibition commemorates the unique common history and cultural heritage of the small
Icelandic and Basque nations as Basque seafarers sailed in the Icelandic seas hunting for whales in the early 17th century. The Centre will be a
place for innovation and sustainability, a melting pot for researchers/scientists, artists and other interested public to meet, learn, research and
exchange information about this shared Basque cultural heritage and how it is still relevant for us today. Attention will also be on how the horizon
can be widened from a historical cultural context towards a more resource-exploitation based view (whaling in early modern age was an important
phase of resource exploitation) and sustainability issues in our approach. The project further aims at establishing a permanent Basque Exhibition in
the Centre celebrating the common cultural heritage between the two small nations of Basques and Icelanders. It will also weave in transnational
innovative cultural and research related activities and workshops based on the same cultural heritage commemorating the common history of
Iceland and the seafarers from the Basque country as well as sustainability issues related to the oceans and small remote communities that
traditionally based their livelihoods on fishing.