This series of traveling Basque culture workshops, in conjunction with the Basque Government, is an opportunity for communities to come together across generations to enjoy themselves while learning something more about Basque culture.

Related links: GUREA Cultural Literacy    Rotation     Basque Studies Collaboration

HOSTING / COST REQUIREMENTS.  The BG pays their flights, and NABO covers the rental car for internal travel.  Your club, meanwhile, would cover room and board while they are with you (either a hotel room or staying with a family).  You would also have to make the necessary arrangements to secure a large room of sorts for the gatherings, and the purchasing of some craft supplies.

ROTATION. They will be traveling here this August (the BG pays the flights and that's the best month for them so they get to pick the month).  Once again we endeavor to rotate these workshops through at least three of our NABO regions to sort of speak "share the wealth." 

Why these visiting workshops? 
In some of our clubs we are finding some success in drawing youth participation; we'd love to hear about it so that we can make this idea available to other clubs. Most of our clubs encounter various challenges in keeping Basque things going. That is why NABO in conjunction with the Basque Government of Euskadi, is organizing a series of visiting workshops that would come to your town for a few days.  It would entail hosting (room & board) 2 young adult instructors from the Basque country, and they would present  workshops on various aspects of Basque culture--for young and old--in an effort to get families together in your community to learn a few more things about Basque culture. 

"If Mohammad can't go to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammad."

As the above saying states, 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.

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 N.A.B.O. is following the motto Celebrate + Educate = Perpetuate.  N.A.B.O. has developed the GUREA Cultural Literacy program.  Gurea is Basque for "it's ours."  This program aims to develop and implement some effective methods to sustain "Basqueness:" Basque culture and identity--something that all of our Basque organizations have a shared interest in developing.   Two Major components are the Gurea Educational Workshops,  Entertainment Tours and Txiki-Txoko: NABO's Kids' Korner

Once again, the key is to create some events where families can get together because of the main things that Basque culture has to offer--what we have to "sell" sort of speak--is that we do things across the generations.  In our society, that is not usually the case.  Teenagers hang around their own age group, senior citizens with their own etc.  So the more we do things like this, the better chance we have of showing what special things Basque culture possesses.

It's not largely automatic being Basque.  Not anymore. Those of us who identify with being Basque do so mostly because we were raised that way.  So if parents today don't make an effort to teach their kids about being Basque, then it will all be ending soon for one of the world's oldest of cultures. This initiative is about developing ways of bringing families together to recreate and educate about being Basque.