PALABRES – THIRD STOPOVER

Since 2021 and the passing of Maite Achiary-Etchemendy, the festival’s historic president, a new generation has officially taken over.

Passionate about the arts and about all the questions raised by Errobiko Festibala, Maite was also a feminist activist. It is thanks to her that the presence of women on artistic stages became a central issue as early as 1996. It is also thanks to her that this legacy is now an integral part of the festival’s identity.

There are many legacies — artistic, philosophical, social, linguistic, political, and more — and the challenges faced, along with the issues they raise, remain at the heart of the debate.

“To create is to resist. To resist is to create.”
Stéphane Hessel

In an international, national, and regional context marked by the rise of withdrawal into oneself, xenophobia, and violence; in a world where we are witnessing the extinction of species and cultures; in an era where everything tends toward uniformity in the service of profit, consumption, and the destruction of living beings; faced with identitarian nationalist movements seeking to subjugate the so-called “regional” arts and cultures, we ask the question of the necessity of such a commitment, of such a festival, however small it may be.

This reflection takes place both from a political standpoint, concerning the place of artists in society, and through the artistic forms themselves.

At the helm: Ainize Madariaga.
As crew: the festival’s artists, the current festival leadership, cultural actors, thinkers, and many others.