KULTUR ASTEA
Rotating weekly Basque culture sessions |
Aim: with a
visiting two-person team from the Basque Country facilitating a week
of sessions that allows our communities to come together for several
days of sharing and learning about their Basque heritage
"If Mohammad
can't go to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammad."
As the saying
goes, it makes sense for us too. If people are not able to
attend NABO events, then we have to develop initiatives where we
bring the action closer to them. If we can't find viable ways
of keeping things active and engaging in our local Basque
communities, then larger regional or national Basque events will not
likely appeal to them because they have long-since not been
connected.
Basque clubs regularly receive inquiries from European
Basques that go along the lines of: "would like to meet
Basque-Americans" and "prepared to work at whatever to cover
expenses while there" and "want to help teach about Basque
culture." In practice, very few of these inquiries ever
meet with much success. Meanwhile, Basque clubs are always
in search of ways of communicating information about "Basqueness"
(Basque culture & identity) to their local membership. The proposal is to meld these
two elements.
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For Basque culture to
endure we'll need to find a viable balance between the fun of
being Basque (e.g., festivals) and knowing something more about
what being Basque is about. That is why NABO is following
the motto
Recreate + Educate = Perpetuate.
The educate part of the equation is being developed in our
GUREA Cultural Literacy program.
Gurea is Basque for "it's ours." |
TEAM TRAINING.
Basque country young adults apply to a program where the
Directorate of Relations with Basque Communities prepares them. This preparation will
enable them to
present a one-week selection of classes and lessons geared to
both children and adults.
ROTATION.
This team (probably a pair) would spend one week in a host
community then move to the next, covering from 4-6 communities
during the course of a summer.
HOSTING REQUIREMENTS. Room and board for one week (either a
hotel room or staying with a family) and local transportation
(including a one-way trip to or from the previous/next community).
Each club would have to make the necessary arrangements to secure a
large room of sorts for the meetings.
SESSION OPTIONS.
Morning sessions could be geared more to children, while later
afternoon events would be for both young and old. They
could include teaching dances, watching a Basque film (explained
& discussed), cooking classes, Euskara introduction, etc.
Send your comments to
info@nabasque.org
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