How do you rate the activity of this first year of the Huerta?

It was very vivid. The inner thing, that is, what we've had to bring, and what you don't see from the outside, has been a wonderful thing, especially because we were learning and, in the first year, you had to build everything. The look outside has been a little slower, but it has also been very productive. There's a lot of difference between the moment we start and the time we've finished the year, we notice the evolution: we're increasingly communicating our activity better and we're getting a better response.

A year after the opening of the room, would you say you've met the initial goals?

I would say that we have complied with many of them, but it is also true that there are still many to comply with. In any case, we did not expect it to be done in a year. On the other hand, there are other objectives that have emerged along the way, perhaps the majority. We entered this in a very capricious way, without knowing very well what it was going to bring.

Would you say that it is a reflection of the movement around the performing arts in Vitoria-Gasteiz?

No, in Vitoria there is a pretty nice movement. There are people who have been doing this for many years, and also people who are creating a very rich business, who come with desire and with desire. But the truth is that a space like Baratza fits nicely into the scenic panorama of Vitoria. Being at that level is difficult and we hope that it will play our part well.

It is important to say that the managers of the garden are also creators. Is the vacuum being filled that the institutions and other rooms do not cover?

In Vitoria-Gasteiz there is a wide range of performing arts, but above all, the largest is found in the classical theatre. In recent years, some groups have brought us more dangerous programming – Factorship of Fuegos, Colectivo Monstrenko... – and for our part, they are given more support, because we want to make sustainable programming throughout the year. We are therefore building what already existed.

More and more creators are managing culture. Is it important to control the entire process from creation to exposure? Do opportunities open up?

It is essential to spend time studying and researching, if not, how to evolve? The creation of artistic material, in most cases, is not a matter of enlightenment, but of deep work and dedication of a long time, requires a great commitment. What is shown is nothing more than an option that can be shown. We try to show the material that comes closest to the truth and honesty of this work done, but in the end what is important is the work done earlier. In management you find mistakes and interesting things that will open your way.

Courses, permanent programming, meeting point of theater and dance groups, artists' residences... In a year you have done a lot of things.

Yes, the year has many days and we have rested few times. Not everything has gone well, but we have learned everything.

Do you know the public of Vitoria-Gasteiz Baratza?

There's an ever-wider audience, and that's been one of my greatest joys, if you look back at the year. The social base gives it a differentiated meaning, but although from the beginning we had our eyes set on that basis, in this sense there are still some issues that have not been developed.

Does the Baratza Hall serve to show its works to theatre and dance groups in Vitoria-Gasteiz or Euskal Herria?

We think so, but I think we need time for that. The groups that have presented their work are still not so much, but it seems that those who pass through there feel at ease. We must also bear in mind that our room is small, that not all have room.

It is a private initiative, although it is open. Where is the aid from public institutions? Is it just economic?

Although we didn't have any money at first, the truth is that we were drowned out of paper accounts. There are politicians who have supported us from the outset, and today we have huge subsidies. We have a kind of agreement with the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz which, if we look at the annual activity, gives little, but thanks to that help we have been able to do some things. On the other hand, the Basque Government’s Creativity Workshops programme has for the second time received a more substantial subsidy. With that, as Unai [López de Armentia] says, he gives Olentzero the letter to write and what we bring to Baratza we can decide with affection, as a cow in the short term of the year.