BUSINESS REPORT 2024
Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao
An essential cultural centre
In 2024, Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao was ranked among the ten essential cultural centres in Spain according to the Culture Observatory.
This position is the result of the strategy launched in 2019 through the Programme Project to turn it into Bilbao’s Centre for Contemporary Society and Culture, with the aim of contributing to the construction of a new, more creative, critical and diverse society. A place to experience culture as a practice, a process and an experience, through a hybrid and diverse programme that has transformed the contemporary into something everyday for citizens through the visual arts, cinema and audiovisual creation, the performing arts and literature.
The exhibitions stand out, with 163.000 visitors, making them the most visited in the Centre’s history. Among the most viewed is KLIMA, which has brought together for the first time in Bilbao some of the most important pieces by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, a collective of visual artists who are leaders in international contemporary art. Similarly, this year the exhibition hall has become a space for experimentation with projects such as The Artwork as a Living System, by the artistic duo Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, pioneers in digital art and the development of artificial life systems, through interactive installations that connect art and nature.
In addition, there were 18 exhibition projects activated throughout the year in the Exhibition Hall, Lantegia, Mediateka Gallery and the Terrace. Many of these were derived from the residency programme, which in 2024 accompained more than 42 artists in their creative processes, linked to the programming and shared with the Centre’s audiences.
The consolidation of the Programme Project is also evident in the fourth season of eszenAZ, Azkuna Zentroa’s regular live arts programme. Leading artists and companies from the local and international scene have presented the most cutting-edge proposals in stage design and dramaturgy at the Auditorium and Kubo Baltza, offering a different ways of experiencing theatre, music, dande and performance.
Classic and contemporary cinema and international events such as Gutun Zuria Bilbao and the Azkuna Zentroa International Literature Festival, complete a programme underpinned by support for creativity as a fundamental pillar of Azkuna Zentroa’s mission to connect people with the most current artistic practices and languages, and with the vision of positioning itself as an essential space for the creation and exhibition of new artistic forms at a local and international level.
OUR CONTRIBUTIONS AND ASSETS
3.076.008 PEOPLE VISITED AZ IN 2024
We have expanded the city’s cultural offering and contributed to access to contemporary art, culture and knowledge. 564 4.038 NEW AZ CARDS ISSUED PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAMMED ACTIVITIES
6.170 VISITORS ON GUIDED TOURS OF THE BUILDING, MEDIATEKA AND EXHIBITIONS
206.866 PEOPLE HAVE PARTICIPATED IN ART PROGRAMMING 27.131 PEOPLE RESPOND TO THE CENTRE’S ONLINE OFFERING 208 ACTIVITIES PROGRAMMED BY AZ
MEDIATION AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES / WORKSHOPS AND DEBATES
ARTISTS, CREATORS AND PROFESSIONALS LINKED TO CONTEMPORARY ART
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
LIVE SHOWS EXHIBITIONS AND ART INSTALLATIONS
FEATURE FILMS PROJECTED WITH ORIGINAL AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES
CULTURAL CENTRES AND ORGANIZATIONS IN CONNECTION
INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL CENTRES IN CONNECTION
CULTURAL PROGRAMMES IN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
33,5% SELF-FINANCED
ART AND CULTURE
A programme designed to encourage reflection and critical thinking through art that works from and with the social fabric of the city
16 exhibitions and installations
82 artists and professionals
47 activities
162.985 attendees at visual arts programme
37 programmed activities 5.788 attendees of activities 72 authors, artists and other professionals
21 workshops and presentations
41 live shows 9.743 attendees 109 artists
3 meetings with artists
58 feature films screened in their original version
15.947 viewers of audiovisual programming
6 programmed projects
8 film festivals
Christa
Sommerer
Carlota Mantecón. Principiantes
AND ALSO...
A cultural programme crossing Development Goals
Culture plays an essential transversal role to achieve the 2030 Agenda challenge, and Azkuna ZentroaAlhóndiga Bilbao’s programme crosses virtually all the goals set out on this global roadmap. To attain them, Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao acts as a connector with society in order to transform it, based on the conviction that art can foster new values and provide the necessary creativity to contribute to the development of humanity.
Artistic creation support
Azkuna Zentroa develops different programmes to support and accompany artistic creation, through which around thirty projects linked to its programming lines are activated each year: visual arts, live arts, cinema and audivisual, and literature.
Own Practice and Theory in Contemporary Arts & Culture Master’s Degree
The third edition of this training programme was developed in collaboration with the University of the Basque Country during the 2024-2025 academic year.
It is the first of its kind in the Basque Country and arose from the need to comprehend the new reality of contemporary artistic and cultural practices from an applied perspective. It is aimed at favouring the professionalization of students and is taught by over 40 trainers.
Lantegia. Laboratory of ideas
Lantegia is a crucial element in the strategic model of the 2029-2024 Project Programme, and one of the pillars on which it is conceptually established. It is a vital organ for the Centre functioning, where contemporary and experimental concepts are developed from a new perespective towards creation, innovation and prototyping.
AZ Irratia. Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga
Bilbao’s Radio
AZ Irratia. Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao’s radio station is growing in terms of programming and audience, consolidating its commitment to this new format, where orality is the conveyor belt for thought and artistic reflection.
ArtxiboAZ
ArtxiboAZ is the new Azkuna Zentroa’s cultural programme digital repository. It has been designed as a tool for the comprehension of contemporary creation from three angles, i.e. as an institutional archieve, as a support for artistic mediation and dissemination, and as a guarantor of the memory of Basque contemporary creation.
AZ publications
The cultural programme is expanded via publications to make known anddisseminate contemporary artistic practice. In 2024, the publishing fund was expanded with Metakoadernoak by residents and artists from the Centre and the project La ola en la mente by Isabel de Naverán as an Associate Researcher at AZ.
Education & Mediation
Education and Mediation are the Centre’s essential pillars in its purpose to connect society to contemporary culture. As such, 31 projects have been undertaken in the year 2024 to mediate in a conscious and elaborate way with our range of audiences.
Institutional relations. International recognition
Internationalization is carried out through the search for opportunities and opening up of new networks to enrich the Centre’s programme. Among many others alliances, Azkuna Zentroa forms part of ACuTe, a European consortium of benchmark cultural centres, universities, and creative arts organizations including Ars Electronica or the European Theatre Convention.
dendAZ. Azkuna Zentroa’s store
+30 creators
+800 references on sale
27% of sales growth compared to 2024
Space rental
126 events and collaborations
17.072 users
461 spaces used
Mediateka BBK
80.532 loans (6,8% more than in 2024)
358.363 accesses to the Mediateka BKK
3.160 new acquisitions
Physical Activity Centre
624.109 access to the physical activity centre
5.310 average menbers/month
301 courses
37 enrollees in gAZte programme
Restaurants and cinema
4 spaces
MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao is Bilbao’s Centre for Contemporary Society and Culture. It is a place for research, innovation and development in the field of creation, where artistic processes coexist with results.
OUR MISSION is to create connections between people and culture, to influence the context and contribute to building a more critical, creative and diverse society.
OUR VISION is to position Azkuna Zentroa as a public space, diverse and a benchmark in contemporary society and culture, locally and internationally. To be an epicentre of transformation in the territory and of the people who inhabit it.
OUR VALUES are sustainability, in terms of economic and energy efficiency; universal accessibility to space and pogramming; and equality, to generate a space for all people.
Elena Aitzkoa. Ur Aitzak
Abel Jaramillo. Ninguna noche en llamas
Guillermo Weickert. Luz sobre las cosas
