BUSINESS REPORT 2023
Reflection and renewal to carry on
Cultural activities have been going on at Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao every day throughout the year 2023. With exhibitions such as Decrecer, by the Bilbao sculptor Bene Bergado, the most visited one in the Centre’s history. With film proposals focused on local and international contemporary creation and its relationship with other artistic disciplines. With a stable season of live arts where the most innovative works on the current scene have been showcased. With festivals such as Gutun Zuria Bilbao, the annual gathering revolving around the word, in which leading figures in contemporary literature and emerging voices in current narrative writing have taken part. With events such as Prototipoak, the International Biennial of New Artistic Forms, that shows new linguistic forms and new artistic practices from an interdisciplinary perspective. And with artists in residence at the Centre, who produce and share their processes with the audiences who visit Azkuna Zentroa. In short, with a programme of events focused on promoting and disseminating contemporary linguistic forms.
Five years ago, and as part of the 2019-2023 Programme Project, the goal was set to make Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao the Centre for Society and Contemporary Culture in Bilbao, with both a local and an international outlook, open to dialogue with all different audiences.
Such goal has been achieved by placing the Centre´s programme of events at the forefront; opening up more spaces to art; consolidating Azkuna Zentroa as a place that supports and accompanies artistic creation through the new Lantegia, the laboratory of ideas; and by renewing the Mediateka to turn it into a library for the 21st century, activating new programmes and opening up new international networks.
The figures lend their support to the path we are on and to a project based on a continuous transformation, ready to adapt itself to each and every one of the circumstances of this period.
The greatest accomplishment during this period has been to spark debates in society; propose culture as a shared practice, as a dynamic and creative process, and as an experience that is both unique and collective; promote contemporary creation, while shaping an artistic community linked to the Centre; and reach new audiences.
All this makes the Alhóndiga a part of all those who walk through its doors every day. Hence, and coinciding with the conclusion of the first part of the Programme Project, it is now time to assess and reconsider all this work with enthusiasm and with a view to renewing and outlining new forms, not only in the artistic context but also in the social one.
There is still a long way to go and further growth is needed to keep up with the good positioning already carved out. There is no doubt that this Centre is preparing itself for the new times and for what society demands: access to culture, cultural rights, new media, new forms of expression, the inter-generational… are already a reality.
Today, Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao is a Centre for creation, production, and dissemination of contemporary art and culture. Therefore, it is building the cultural heritage of the future.
OUR CONTRIBUTIONS AND ASSETS
We have
3.164.249 PEOPLE VISITED AZ IN 2023
42 ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
303 PEOPLE/DAY PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAMMED ACTIVITIES 16 EXHIBITIONS AND ART INSTALLATIONS
4.299 AZ CARDS ISSUED
4.481
VISITORS ON GUIDED TOURS OF THE BUILDING, MEDIATHEKE AND EXHIBITIONS
37 LIVE SHOWS
52
+ 110.000 PEOPLE HAVE PARTICIPATED IN ART PROGRAMMING 304.489
FEATURE FILMS PROJECTED WITH ORIGINAL AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES
SPECTATORS IN GOLEM ALHÓNDIGA CINEMA + 70.000
PEOPLE RESPOND TO THE CENTRE’S ONLINE OFFERING 64 CULTURAL CENTRES AND ORGANIZATIONS IN CONNECTION
271 A ACTIVITIES PROGRAMMED BY AZ
INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL CENTERS IN CONNECTION
53 MEDIATION EDUCATION ACTIVITIES 18 CULTURAL PROGRAMMES IN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
386 ARTISTS, CREATORS AND PROFESSIONALS LINKED TO CONTEMPORARY ART
32,48 % SELF-FINANCED
20
ART AND CULTURE
VISUAL ARTS
16 exhibitions and installations
205 artists and professionals
123 activities
88.696 attendees at visual arts programme
We have expanded the city’s cultural proposal and contributed to the access to contemporany art, culture and knowledge:
LITERATURE
52 actividades programadas
5.604 attendees of activities
51 authors, artists and other professionals
25 workshops
LIVE ARTS
37 live shows
8.336 attendees
89 artists
8 meetings with artists
CINEMA AND AUDIOVISUAL
53 largometrajes proyectados en VOS
4.335 espectadores/as en la programación audiovisual
8 proyectos programados
12 Festivales de cine
MORE THAN 110,000 PARTICIPANTS IN PROGRAMMING
Estudio Gheada El mejor de los mundos
Fermín Jiménez Landa. Un helado sabor sendero
(Prototipoak Bilbao. Bienal Internacional de Nuevas Formas
Artísticas)
Bene Bergado. Degrow © Elssie Ansareo
Y ADEMÁS...
A cultural programme crossing Sustainable Development Goals
Culture plays an essential transversal role to achieve the 2030 Agenda challenge, and Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao´s programme crosses virtually all the goals set out on this global roadmap. To attain them, Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao acts as a connector with society in order to transform it, based on the conviction that art can foster new values and provide the necessary creativity to contribute to the development of humanity.
Artistic creation support
Azkuna Zentroa desarrolla diferentes programas de apoyo y acompañamiento a la creación artística a través de los que se activan cada año una treintena de proyectos vinculados a sus líneas de programación: artes visuales, artes en vivo, cine y audiovisuales y literatura.
Own Practice and Theory in Contemporary Arts & Culture Master´s Degree
This training programme was launched in conjunction with the University of the Basque Country in the academic year 2023-2024. It is the first of its kind in the Basque Country and arose from the need to comprehend the new reality of contemporary artistic and cultural practices from an applied perspective. It is aimed at favouring the professionalization of students and is taught by over 40 trainers.
Lantegia. Laboratorio de Ideas
Lantegia is a crucial element in the strategic model of the 2019-2023 Project Programme, and one of the pillars on which it is conceptually established. It is a vital organ for the Centre functioning, where contemporary and experimental concepts are developed from a new perspective towards creation, innovation and prototyping.
Az Irratia.
Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao Radio
AZ Irratia. Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao´s radio station is growing in terms of programming and audience, consolidating its commitment to this new format, where orality is the conveyor belt for thought and artistic reflection.
ArtxiboAZ
ArtxiboAZ is the new Azkuna- Zentroa cultural programme digital repository. It has been designed as a tool for the comprehension of contemporary creation from three angles, i.e. as an institutional archive, as a support for artistic mediation and dissemination, and as a guarantor of the memory of Basque contemporary creation.
Publicaciones AZ
The cultural programme is expanded via publications to make known anddisseminate contemporary artistic practice. The publication archive grewin 2023 with Somewhere From Here To Heaven and Decrecer, Metakoadernoak by residents and artists of the Center; and the vinyl Eyezorros, the result of the work of Mikel A. García as Associated Artist of AZ.
Education & Mediation
Education and mediation are the Centre´s essential pillars in its purpose to connect society to contemporary culture. As such, 53 projects have been undertaken in the year 2023 to mediate in a conscious and elaborate way with our range of audiences.
Institutional relations. International recognition
Internationalization is carried out through the search for opportunities and opening up of new networks to enrich the Centre’s programme. Among many other alliances, Azkuna Zentroa forms part of ACuTe, a European consortium of benchmark cultural centres, universities, and creative arts organizations including Ars Electronica or the European Theatre Convention.
dendAZ.
Azkuna Zentroa’s store
+30 creators
+ 800 references on sale
+ 23 % of sales growth compared to 2022
Physical Activity Center
Mediateka BBK
77.348 loans (6.8% more than in 2022)
330.446 accesses to the Mediateka BBK
3.575 new acquisitions
67.730 bibliographic collection
596.787 access to the physical activity center
5.015 average members/month
283 courses
45 enrollees in gAZte programa
Space rental
122 events and collaborations
16.895 users
320 spaces used
Golem Alhóndiga Cinemas
304.489 spectators
505 films scheduled
8.211 sessions
Restaurants
4 spaces
The Wellbeing Project SERVICES
MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao is the place to live contemporary culture as a practice, as a process, as a space for experiences, through artists, agents and creative communities. All this through a hybrid programme, in formats such as “co”, “multi”, “trans”, “inter”... that enable everyday contemporary life.
OUR MISSION is to create connections between people and culture, to influence the context and contribute to building a more critical,creative and diverse society.
OUR VISION is to position Azkuna Zentroa as a public space, diverse and a benchmark in contemporary society and culture, locally and internationally. To be an epicentre of transformation in the territory and of the people who inhabit it.
OUR VALUES are sustainability, in terms of economic and energy efficiency; universal accessibility to space and programming; and equality, to generate a space for all people.
Poliana Lima. Oro negro.
Teatro Ojo. Deux Ex Machina.
Elena Aitzkoa. Ur Aitzak. Sombra Clara
SOCIETY AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
azkunazentroa.eus
Bene Bergado. Degrow © Elssie Ansareo .
