Within the framework of the International Congress on working with cultural observatories we have had the opportunity, outside the working sessions, to talk to representatives of each of the observatories that had been invited. We took advantage of their experience and the perspective provided by getting a distance on things, to ask them to assess the Basque Observatory’s proposal in the first year of its existence. Here we have reproduced the answers to the two questions that we asked them.

1. Which aspects of the Basque Cultural Observatory’s proposal would you stress, bearing in mind the experience you have had at your observatory?

2. Which aspects of its development should the Basque Cultural Observatory pay particular attention to?

Serge Bernier, outgoing manager and Dominique Jutras, current manager of the Quebec Culture and Communications Observatory

1. What we would stress is how far the BCO has come in just one year. We have been enormously impressed by the progress that has been made, an example of which is the Kultura 07 Report as the first document published by such a new observatory.

The other feature that we would stress is its desire not to forget about anything or anyone in the proposition. A lot of people and many sectors are getting involved and they aim to set up a regular consultation process with them. If we had proposed to do this in Quebec, I don’t think we would have been able to carry it out.

2. There are two aspects to bear in mind. First of all, the aim of carrying out such a wide-ranging consultation process is excellent a priori but you need to make sure that the process doesn’t run aground and prevents you from carrying out the statistical analysis and research work that is the basic purpose of any observatory. Secondly, while appreciating that this is a temporary option to be applied in this first year, you need to make provision for the fact that the existing (economic, social) statistics do not provide us with enough information on a cultural sector characterised by numerous small companies, whose activities are not included in any of these statistics. All this means you need to develop your own cultural statistics.

Jean-Cédric Delvainquiere, Head of studies and research in the field of policy & regulation in the Department of Studies, Forecasting and Statistics (France)

1. The first aspect that I would most stress is all the preparatory work and reflection that has gone into this project. This is a really important feature because observatories were historically created with much less preparatory work, but in the Basque proposal you can see the desire to capitalise on previous experiences.

As for the Basque Cultural Observatory project and its activity, I think that it is highly coherent, well structured and is especially very well linked to the Basque Culture Plan. The capacity that the Observatory seems to have to be linked to all the professionals and agents in the cultural sector provides a great deal of added value. I think that this is a huge asset, but it is also a challenge that you need to be able to meet.

2. Firstly, we cannot expect the observatory to provide all the answers for us. An observatory plays a decisive role in producing knowledge, references, data, analysis, etc. but it needs to be borne in mind that the Observatory won’t provide answers to all the questions that are raised, and especially to all the problems posed by the cultural sector. This needs to be accepted and nobody should expect the observatory to perform any other functions apart from the ones that it has been given. It will be wonderful if they can manage to meet all the aims they have set by following a gradual approach like the one that they have proposed.

Another aspect that might be borne in mind is the question of costs, in order to meet all the proposed aims with wide-ranging coverage, and beyond the costs, to ensure that a stable source of funding is kept up year after year. The important thing is that behind the project there is a strong political commitment and that they convey the idea that this is a project that must be respected.

Luca Dal Pozzolo, director of Piedmont Cultural Observatory

1. The aspects that I would stress are the fact that it is structured at several institutional levels, the sharing of responsibilities between different organisations, the Basque Culture Plan and the amount of resources that exist relative to the size of the country. These are highly relevant aspects that involve a fairly significant investment in the cultural sector. Perhaps this raises another question, which is the huge expectations that are being created, and as a result, the need that there will be to produce results to match these expectations.

2. The problems that the Basque Cultural Observatory may face are the same as those that these kinds of organisations have. They must try to find a balance between the size of the structure, the results and the resources needed, and this is always difficult to find.

Taking into account the fact that I am not fully familiar with the Basque Culture Plan and although I consider it to be a stimulating aim, the aim of assessing the effective impact of strategic planning on the most mundane cultural processes is difficult – and so involves a degree of risk. This is something that we must reflect on because it is a fundamental aspect in the future of a project of this kind.

Josep Missé, Head of the technical office of the Department of Culture and Media of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia

1. Firstly I would stress the commitment to coordination and participation at all levels of the Public Services: Government, Provincial Councils and the three City Councils in Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria together with the organised representatives of the various cultural sectors as a prerequisite for the development of the Observatory.

Secondly, I would point out the concept of “integral culture” to define the starting point and scope of the Observatory. Internally: paying attention to all the events in the Basque cultural and communication sphere, policies on creativity and the participation of all its citizens, and special transversal monitoring of the development of Basque. Externally: considering that Basque culture is just like any other regardless of the political stances that it is currently associated with and the sociological realities and perceptions that surround it.

Finally I would emphasise the direct and continuous links with the proven positive practices in the models provided by the French state and Government of Quebec.

2. In launching a process like this you must pay attention to several aspects that affect these organisations. First of all, you need to bear in mind the confusion between culture and entertainment that permanently hovers over all the public, business and civil activities involved in the development of cultural processes. Secondly, I would stress the widespread externalisation of interpretation processes that do not involve experts at an observatory, which needs to be considered as a “core” of intellectual capital in culture. Finally we need to bear in mind the lack of personnel specialising in analysing, monitoring and discussing the contributions made by international conceptual and statistical documentation that offer the various viewpoints of the cultural sectors themselves and others that are close to them.

Hakan Casares, coordinator of the Observatory of Galician culture

1. One of the aspects that I would stress is that they have defined the cultural sphere in an original way in the sense that it is not the same as the specifications that we can find in Eurostat documents nor in the work carried out by the Ministry of Culture nor in referents from Catalonia. As well as original it is also comprehensive. It has clearly been inspired by the Canadian Institute of Statistics to a large extent.

2. In general I feel that the approach taken by the Basque Cultural Observatory is the right one. Perhaps what is most striking from an organisational perspective is the fact that it is a series of companies that carry out the work, and that there is no clearly established statistical unit in the public services that specifically deals with everything that has to do with official data. I think that this is an operating system that may come in useful; I cannot find anything wrong with it, but it is probably rather striking.