Basque cultural fabric: intense but asymmetric

In 2024, some 20,000 events were registered on the Kulturklik portal, a platform promoted by the Basque Government that brings together the cultural programming of the territory. In other words, an average of 55 cultural sessions per day were held in the Basque municipalities. However, behind this fruitful harvest lies a more complex reality: culture does not reach all corners equally.

The available data reflect intense programming. Among concerts, plays, festivals, exhibitions, conferences, etc., the Basque Country has a continuous cultural activity throughout the year. Music predominates: concerts accounted for 31.8% of the total programming in 2024 (6,342 events), followed by theatre (21.3%) and audiovisual screenings (11.8%). The rest are made up of other disciplines such as dance shows, exhibitions and other activities.

Most of the events are concentrated in a small number of municipalities, the most populous: the three capitals, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria, accounted for 48% of the total, with an average of more than 3,000 organized annually. With the exception of the capitals, only 36 municipalities exceeded the threshold of 100 years, including Getxo (557), Tolosa (338), Barakaldo (335), Durango (334) and Zarautz (277).

Gipuzkoa is the territory with the highest cultural density, with 11.1 events per thousand inhabitants, followed by Álava (9.7) and Bizkaia (7.5), the latter with the highest volume of events (8,662). The difference is therefore not only in quantity, but also in number of inhabitants. In some regions of Gipuzkoa, such as Tolosaldea, Urola Costa, Alto Deba or Donostialdea, there were more than 10 events per thousand inhabitants in 2024.

With regard to the type of event, as noted above, the predominance of music has been 6,342 concerts (31.8 per cent), 4,239 theatre performances (21.3 per cent), audiovisual screenings accounted for 11.8 per cent of the total, conferences and days 11.5 per cent, exhibitions 6.9 per cent and dance performances 4.3 per cent.

Three out of four events were held in enclosed areas, especially in the Donostialdea, Llanada Alavesa, and Gran Bilbao, where the format has exceeded 76%, and eight out of ten events were held for a single day.

Need to belittle more Euskera?

In the Basque cultural landscape, the use of the Basque language is a fundamental element. In 2024, about half of the events took place in Basque or bilingual languages. This average, however, varies from territory to territory and from region to region. In Gipuzkoa, six of the seven regions exceeded the 50% barrier, while in Alto Deba and Urola Costa more than half of the programming was in Basque.

In Álava, on the other hand, no region has reached these proportions, with Ayala (38.3 per cent in Basque and 11.6 per cent in both languages) being the area most close. This difference shows the cultural progress of the Basque Country, but there are still shortcomings in some areas of the southern part of the territory.

Annual festivals, mostly musical

The festivals held each year deserve a separate chapter. In 2024, 677 festivals were held in the Basque Country, of which half were musical. They were followed by film and audiovisual festivals (88), theatre (70) and dance (49). In addition, nearly a hundred mixed festivals, such as music and dance, were organized, 64 aimed at various disciplines, such as literature, poetry, photography, video games and fashion.

Although the offer is varied, the trend of geographical concentration with all the events is repeated: 21 municipalities took over 70% of the festivals. The capitals are again at the forefront: Bilbao, with 134 festivals; Vitoria, with 86; and San Sebastián, with 71. The most notable in terms of the number of participants are the Festival, the Jazz Festival and the BBK Live, with more than 100,000 attendees, although there is no official system.

With regard to the format of festivals, 25 per cent were held outdoors (only 16.5 per cent of all events are held outdoors); dance (48.5 per cent) and music (30.1 per cent) predominate in outdoor spaces; in addition, 68 per cent of festivals lasted more than one day.

In terms of antiquity, half of the dance festivals have more than 25 editions, while the music festivals are younger: only 18.4% are over 25 years old, the oldest being the Musical Fortnight of San Sebastian, which last year completed 85 editions before the Festival (72 editions).

Distribution of equipment: fluctuating

All these cultural events require a physical infrastructure. The Basque municipalities have 3,757 cultural equipment: 1,189 are public (libraries, cultural houses, museums, halls...) and 2,568 are linked to the cultural industry (producers, publishers, companies, shops, academies...).

The distribution is asymmetric: Bizkaia has 49.1% of all equipment, Gipuzkoa 36.2% and Álava 14.7%. It is no coincidence that the areas with the most infrastructure are also the ones with the most programming.

There are areas where it's a bit difficult to guarantee access to culture: municipalities with fewer than 10 events a year, regions with hardly any programming in Basque, or places that don't offer cinema and other activities like that. The cultural gap is not always obvious, but it exists. Kulturklik is useful for general photography, but it has a limit, it's voluntary and it doesn't include all the events. In particular, activities organized by alternative circuits and local actors are excluded.

Therefore, although the cultural fabric of the Basque Country is intense, consolidated and diverse, it has its lights and shadows. There is a solid foundation: a large number of events, a wide network of festivals, a solid infrastructure and a growing commitment to the Basque Country. But there are also urgent challenges: balancing supply territorially, giving visibility to small towns, ensuring the sustainability of festivals and strengthening the presence of the Basque Country in all regions.

Adding up the data mentioned above, the question is clear: What can be done to ensure that culture reaches all people on an equal footing? To strengthen the centralisation of resources or to prioritise decentralisation that favours the role of small municipalities? Regardless of the model, it is essential not to forget that culture is a right and must therefore be guaranteed to all citizens regardless of where they live.