euskalkultura.eus

Newport, RI.  The Basque club of Rhode Island was born in 2003, when several Basque pilotaris decided to stay in the area after the closing of Newport’s Jai Alai.  The club functioned informally for a time, but last year decided to take a new step and was admitted to NABO, the North American Federation of Basque clubs.  Since then, the club has been carrying out activities and projects monthly.

In this way, this Sunday, club members will gather to celebrate Aberri Eguna.  The event will take place at noon at the Knights of Columbus hall.  There will be children’s games as well as the first Mus tournament in New England.  The day will be festive, but there will also be time to work as members will be asked to discuss the possibility of renting a locale. 

This was the main theme of last April’s meeting, when a formal proposal for renting a space was made in order to carry out more club activities: Basque classes (now they are given at the Newport Library), dinners and meals, talks, films, watching pilota and soccer matches…The club is currently studying various possibilities that the group will be notified of on Sunday.

Basque Studies

Among the projects that the club is developing is the Senior Project Scholarship.  This scholarship will provide financial support in the amount of $100 to high school students who choose Basque topics as their senior project (for more information write: nebasque@aol.com).  Even if the amount is humble, the willingness of the club to help support the Basque culture in the US is commendable.

Finally, there are the dates for 2012:

-Aberri Eguna: this Sunday
-Txitxiburduntzi: May 19
-Feast of San Juan: June 23
-Feast of San Fermín and members’ dinner: July 7
-Summer Picnic and Annual Meeting: August 25
-Cooking workshop and members’ dinner: TBA September
-Basque Film Series-I: TBA: September
-Conference by Megan Echevarria, entitled "New historical perspectives on 'Bilbao-New York-Bilbao', by Kirmen Uribe": TBA October
-Basque Film Series-II: TBA October
-Cooking workshop: TBA November
-Basque Film Series-III: TBA November
-Basque Film Series-IV: TBA December
-Christmas and San Tomas: December 16

-Rhode Island Club’s website: http://ribasque.weebly.com/index.html