The Tosta Initiative
Tosta is a name for the thwart of a traditional vessel, a word shared - with minor variations -across
many of the small sea-faring communities of the European coastline. In all these cultures, often
marginalised within the larger nation-states they find themselves drawn into, the sea has
traditionally been a pathway to opportunities and collaborations, economic and social as well as
cultural. The building and manning of small boats has been integral to our way of life, and the boat
is a powerful metaphor of our languages, which encapsulate and protect the cultures we love. The
sea has always been a thoroughfare for us rather than a barrier. Ancient maps of Galicia, for
example, show Ireland just beyond its horizon: Basque words incorporated into the Faroese
language remind us that fishermen returning from the Grand Banks with a cargo of salt cod would
winter there and dry their fish: Viking settlers in their longboats, Celtic monks in their curraghs and
coracles, and traders from Ragusa in their galleys, have over the centuries all found shelter and
opportunities in the tiny harbours of the Atlantic seaboard.
Representing eight small cultures and lesser-used languages across the land mass of Europe and its
islands, we are taking this opportunity to work together, to pool our cultural skills and aspirations.
We seek to strengthen each other as well as share our messages of diversity, tolerance,
reconciliation and creativity with our larger neighbours. Separated for centuries by politics and
religion, by economic centralisation and force majeure, and dispersed across the margins of several
legislatures, we are more and more aware how much we have in common, and how creative our
differences can also be. Deeply rooted in our traditional cultures, this enterprise will be innovative
and transformational, combining innovation and the cutting-edge with respect for the past.
Choreographed with the maiden voyage of the newly rebuilt renaissance Basque whaling ship the
San Juan, now dedicated to peaceful purposes as a floating ambassador for the minority peoples of
Europe, this enterprise will combine a unique series of artists’ residencies, a tranche of innovative
and tailored youth training placements, and a cluster of community entrepreneurship opportunities.
Its process will be shared with a wide European public both physically and digitally, and as well as
generating excitement and participation across Europe between 2015 and 2016, will leave behind it
an active and sustainable network of interactions, relationships, new understandings and growing
collaborations. This network will be much more than a legacy; it will be a dynamic agency of change
and a deepening reservoir of skills, capacities, good practice and burgeoning ambition. The twined
and interleaving aspects of the enterprise are outlined below:
The San Juan
The artists’ residencies
The youth training programme
The community entrepreneurship opportunity
Digitalisation and democracy
A shared resource to support independent events
The core programme and its administration
The San Juan
The San Juan is an entirely new Basque sailing
ship, modelled exactly on the records of a
whaling-boat of the same name which sank off
Newfoundland in 1527. She is being built in
Pasaia in the Basque Country by a team
composed partly of specialist craftspeople and
partly of international volunteers. Once launched,
she will travel the coasts of Europe as a floating
ambassador for the minority peoples of Europe,
carrying a cargo of culture and a message of
diversity, tolerance, reconciliation and creativity.
This is a message we in the smaller nations have
learned through centuries of oppression,
marginalisation and determined self-reliance, and
she and her cargo will play an active and creative
role in speeding reconciliation and stimulating cooperation. She will be the centrepiece and
flagship of our project, and even when she
cannot be physically present in any one place her
voyage will encapsulate the values and
aspirations of our work. The ambition of her
reincarnation, the daring of her voyage and the idealism of her purpose will ignite a widespread
understanding of the contribution we smaller nations can make to the European experience and
consciousness. It will reinforce the determination of smaller cultures to grow strong together
through co-operation, and enable the greater nations to understand, respect and enjoy the cultural
wealth and social healing that diversity and tolerance can bring.
After leaving Donostia, she will call on her maiden voyage in as many ports in the other minority
nations as possible, and wherever she docks will become the focus of exhibitions, festivals, regattas
and other events. Her journey will be accessible throughout through digital communications and in
the conventional media, and every effort will be made to share her voyage – and her message and
aspirations – with as wide a public as possible. Thus, although the San Juan will be unable to visit
the setting of each and every residency, the artists’ work will still be included in both the visual and
virtual cargo, and the its role in the significance of the voyage will be enhanced. Our message of
diversity, tolerance and creativity will be an integral part of the entire experience.
Artists’ residencies
Eight* artists, one from each of the participating cultures, will be selected by our partner galleries
and other organisations to take up a twelve-week residency in another host country between 2015
and 2016. They will represent a range of art forms and cross conventional barriers, and may include
musicians, story-tellers, dancers and film makers as well as visual artists. The artists taking part will
be drawn exclusively from the native-language communities, and in each case their language and
culture will be precious to them.
Whilst on residency and afterwards, they will be expected to interact widely with native artists,
cultural producers and other organisations, and their approach will encapsulate the values of
diversity, tolerance and creativity we hold in common. As well as developing their own work, they
will contribute towards the cultural cargo of the San Juan, and also to the development of events in
2016 to welcome the floating ambassador on its visit to their host region. Like the boat itself, they
will be animateurs, stimulating new activities and promoting awareness of cultural diversity.
After the residency period, the artists’ work (and perhaps that of communities and other artists they
have interacted with) will be curated, and exhibited/ brought to the public in a number of ways:
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In a public exhibition as part of Donostia 2016 (later Frŷslan 11 Cities 2018?)
As part of the San Juan’s cargo to be exhibited along its route
As legacy pieces donated by each artist to their host community
Via digital technology and through the conventional media, to those further afield.
Thus, as the San Juan will be unable to visit the setting of each and every residency, the artists’ work
will still be included in both the visual and virtual cargo, and the its role in the significance of the
voyage will be enhanced. Our message of diversity, tolerance, reconciliation and creativity will be
an integral part of the entire experience.
*this number can be multiplied if appropriate as funding permits
Skills training for young people
Eight* young people between sixteen and twenty-five, one from each of the participating cultures,
will be offered twelve weeks of tailored residential training in a field and with a programme
appropriate to their own needs, and developed in dialogue with themselves. The craftspeople
taking part will be drawn exclusively from the native-language communities, and in each case their
language and culture will be precious to them. Like the work of the fine artists, their work will also
be made accessible to a wider public in a number of ways:
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In a public exhibition as part of
Donostia 2016 (later Frŷslan 11
Cities 2018?)
As part of the San Juan’s cargo
to be exhibited along its route
As legacy pieces donated by
each artist to their host
community
Via digital technology and
through the conventional media,
to those further afield.
The skills offered will all be in areas associated with the sea and maritime life, but not necessarily
narrowly ‘traditional’. The projects each is involved with will be of value to the host community,
enabling them to see the value of their work to those around them. Like the boat itself, they will be
ambassadors for their culture and animateurs of new activity, both on the course and in their own
community afterwards, to promote awareness of cultural diversity, and our message of diversity,
tolerance, reconciliation and creativity.
We will work in each country with enterprise agencies dedicated to supporting economic activity in
these smaller cultures, such as Menter a Busnes in Wales, Udaras na Gaeltachta in Ireland and
Highlands and Islands Enterprise in Scotland, to ensure the placement is as effective and creative as
possible, and will ensure that the value of participation in this training is recognised by all such
agencies in the different participating nations.
*this number can be multiplied if appropriate as funding permits
Community entrepreneurial opportunities
Eight* groups, one from each of the participating cultures, will be offered the opportunity, during
2015, to collaborate in the development of a collaborative enterprise, rooted in arts practice and the
cultural industries. They will be encouraged and supported in each region by an enterprise agency
dedicated to supporting economic activity in these smaller cultures, such as Menter a Busnes in
Wales, Udaras na Gaeltachta in Ireland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in Scotland. The groups
will all be drawn from the native-language communities, and in each case their language and culture
will be precious to them. They will be encouraged to produce an effective and fully costed business
plan, and advised and mentored throughout by sympathetic entrepreneurs from their own cultures.
Using digital and other technologies, the groups will be enabled and encouraged to share ideas,
problems and initiatives with each other throughout the process. In 2016, all will be invited to a
symposium in Donostia as part of the Year of Culture celebrations, and will be offered the
opportunity to secure investment and support to turn the project idea into economic reality.
The process of this attempt to stimulate and support shared community enterprise will also be
shared with a European audience, through:
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A public exhibition as part of Donostia 2016 (later Frŷslan 11 Cities 2018?)
Records and plans carried as part of the San Juan’s cargo to be exhibited along its route
Via digital technology and through the conventional media, to those further afield.
*this number can be multiplied if appropriate as funding permits
Digitalisation and democracy
To ensure access to the programme by everyone who’s
interested and would like to be connected, and to stimulate
excitement and participation throughout the voyage, we will
maximise the use of digital communications and interaction.
An ancient heritage will thus be shared using the newest
technologies, and communities throughout the small nations
of Europe will find themselves upskilling in order to take part.
Some potential elements of this process are listed below:
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Film and video coverage of the Voyage of Culture, shared through web and networking sites
An exhibition of light and laser art to welcome the ship whenever possible
Video art projected on to the sails of the San Juan when in port
A permanent exhibition in Sans Sebastian throughout the voyage, linked to other sites
Digital engagement with schools and rural communities
Development of a pirate radio programme on the ship
Web, Facebook and Twitter feeds both from the boat and from committees in each region
A residency on the boat. Working through new media
Distribution of a virtual sailing experience continually updated by skipper and crew
Development of an I Phone App
Naomi Heath, the video artist from Wales who joined us for the Tional gathering, suggests the
development of a virtual San Juan carrying an identical cargo, able to visit not only the ports and
regions the original cannot reach, but to be navigated into every home. Her vision of the envelope
or backdrop is dominated by the night stars by which the ship is navigated, and by the music of the
European Renaissance which would have accompanied her namesake from Pasaia to Newfoundland.
A shared resource to support independent events
A wide range of independent festivals,
regattas, exhibitions and other events
will grow up to celebrate the voyage of
the San Juan, and her visits to many
European centres. The artists,
craftspeople and entrepreneurial
trainees taking part in this project will be
encouraged to play a part in developing
these events wherever appropriate. In
addition, we will set up a central webbased exchange and skills-sharing centre,
where participants can draw on the
collective capacities, experience of all
involved, and share aspirations and difficulties. This network of exchange and collaboration will
have the potential to remain active long after the TOSTA initiative draws to a close, and will be
supported by the project partners as long as useful and necessary.
The core programme and its administration
The enterprise will be led by Udaras na Gaeltachta as organising lead partner. They will be
supported by four co-ordinating partners: Albaola Maritime Museum in the Basque Country, Museo
do Pobo Gallego in Galicia, Celtic Neighbours based in Wales, and It Fiskerhuis in Frŷslan. Eight
associate partners with more specific responsibilities have already come forward from Croatia, the
Faroe Islands, Galicia, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The project will demand a full-time co-ordinator throughout the process, and shorter term curators/
administrators for each thread. They will be responsible to an organising committee selected by the
project’s partners. At all possible times and in all possible ways, control and leadership of individual
aspects of the initiative will be delegated to our network of national and regional partners and
communities, increasing democracy and enhancing opportunities for long-term, sustainable and
active networks to grow up.