by Jeffrey Beeson

This year was the 25th anniversary of Radio Euskadi – one of the largest radio stations in the Basque country.  They had been wondering how they were going to celebrate such an important anniversary.  The company EiTB – which not only owns Radio Euskadi but also owns 2 Basque television channels – was approached by World Café Europe in November of last year and asked whether they might want to be part of the 2nd World Café Europe Gathering taking place in Bilbao on June 5-7.  EiTB agreed and came to the kick off World Café event in January of this year which included another 12 other local organizations.  They were very favourably impressed by the experience and realized that this could be the type of format to invite the listeners of Radio Euskadi to a celebration of its 25th anniversary.  So the beginnings of the 1000 person Café in front of the Guggenheim were born…

On May 18th, 1000 people sat down at 200 tables to talk about the past, present and future of the Basque country.  Coffee was of course served directly at the tables.  There were 3 rounds of conversation of 30 minutes a piece.  The whole event was televised as well as broadcast live on the radio.  World Café seems to be on the lips of all the citizerns of Bilbao as we approach our gathering on June 5-7.  It was wonderful to see young people, old people, traditional Basque people sitting next to new age people – all having intense and rewarding conversations.  At the end of the event, people did not want to leave and kept conversing at their tables for quite a while longer!  The event was such a success that Radio Euskadi is contemplating doing it again!