Washington D.C. Euskal Etxea

The Washington D.C. Euskal Etxea grew out of a meeting in 2005, at a screening of a documentary about the Basque sheepherders of the western United States. It was in October of that year: the Embassy of France showed “The Last Link”, and at the reception Argia Beristain and Jurdana Izagirre Artaza, who would go on to be founders of the centre, met each other. Then came months of dinners, patxaran and talk late into the night, and the decision to call an open meeting to find other Basques in the area. More than 30 people from the Washington area came to that first gathering, in July 2006, and from it came the centre, which the Basque Government recognised in 2007.