Basque institutions place Basque at the same level as Spanish and English to direct the modern art gallery. At least 10 years of experience in senior management of a cultural project is required.
Knowing Basque will be the key to deciding the name of Juan Ignacio Vidarte’s replacement as general director of the Guggenheim Museum. Vidarte, the first and until now only head of the Basque art gallery, does not know Basque and after announcing his goodbye he defended that it was advisable but not mandatory to know this official language in Euskadi. But the criteria already established for the future general director place “knowledge and fluency” in knowing Basque, Spanish and English as a condition.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has published the “capabilities and qualifications” that will be taken into account when choosing Juan Ignacio Vidarte’s replacement; the Bilbao economist who will leave the general management next autumn. And among these “skills and qualifications” includes knowledge of Basque at the same level as English and Spanish. A criterion that favors Basque applicants who, in addition, will have to prove experience of at least a decade in senior management of cultural projects. Two conditions that limit the list of candidates when a selection process that will initially be carried out by the German company Antonia Josten formally begins.
Applicants for the management of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao must also prove their “fundraising, audience development, promotion and public relations skills.” The Basque art gallery is based on an agreement adopted in 1991 between the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Basque Government with the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation. The Basque institutions are owners of the museum building and the permanent collection and assume the maintenance of the art gallery and the investments in the permanent work.
As a university accreditation, a degree or postgraduate degree is claimed in “a subject related to the tasks of a museum, including those of the position of director.” In addition, “knowledge of the institutional reality and socio-cultural context of the Museum” will also be valued, although without specifying the degree of this “knowledge.”
The latest appointment made to direct a sociocultural institution has been the election of former PNV parliamentarian Iñigo Iturrate as head of the Euskalduna palace in Bilbao. Iturrate, with training as a sociocultural entertainer and an extensive career in public positions in the PNV, was appointed by the board of the Euskalduna palace chaired by his former partner in the Basque Chamber and provincial deputy Lexuri Arrizabalaga. A signing that occurred when Iturrate was still formally a Basque parliamentarian but had not been designated as a candidate by his party. Arrizabalaga justified his appointment due to Iturrate’s “cultural sensitivity” when she was required to give explanations by the EH Bildu joint group in Bizkaia.
