In July, the museum ship Mater chose Itsasmuseum to launch its Zero Zabor Uretan (“Zero Litter in the Water”) campaign, with recycling workshops, cinema on board and the parade of the giants Zabor and Bio. In addition, local schoolchildren drew proposals for reducing litter in the seas, which were later displayed in shops around the city.

Through STEAM Sarea, promoted by Innobasque (Basque Government), Itsasmuseum challenges students in the 3rd and 4th years of compulsory secondary education (ESO) to design solutions for removing plastic waste from the sea by designing a floating platform made from sustainable materials. More than 300 students and teachers take part every year in this free STEAM activity, part of Itsasmuseum’s educational programme.

The workshop “I Live in the Estuary”, aimed at students in the 1st and 2nd cycles of primary education, focuses mainly on the recovery of the Bilbao estuary ecosystem, through a clue-based game and a craft activity. In the workshop “An Estuary Full of Life”, part of Itsasmuseum’s school programme for ESO and Baccalaureate students, participants take a guided visit on the environmental recovery of the Bilbao estuary and its ecosystem, measuring water quality through a physico-chemical analysis of a water sample taken from the estuary itself.

Eco-gymkhana and craft activity for primary schools, groups and associations. Through cooperative challenges, it works on the 3Rs —reduce, reuse and recycle— and encourages direct reflection on marine litter (especially plastic waste), consumption habits and caring for seas and oceans.

Eco-gymkhana and craft activity for primary schools, groups and associations. Through cooperative challenges, it works on the 3Rs —reduce, reuse and recycle— and encourages direct reflection on marine litter (especially plastic waste), consumption habits and caring for seas and oceans.

Sensory workshop from the school programme for infant and primary students, in which participants tell natural sea sounds apart from artificial sounds linked to human activity. It introduces the impact of underwater noise on marine life in an accessible way and connects sensory perception with the protection of ecosystems.

STEAM workshop on buoyancy and shipbuilding, in which students in the 5th and 6th years of primary education design and build boat prototypes using reused materials, such as Tetra Brik cartons. The activity combines science, creativity, reuse of materials and hands-on STEAM learning, showing that sustainability can also be approached through experimentation and design.

Itsasmuseum collaborates every year with EHU’s Zientzia Astea – Science Week, offering the workshop “Invisible Marine Pollution”. This is a free activity for families, designed and delivered in collaboration with PiE – Plentziako Itsas Estazioa (EHU’s Plentzia Marine Station). Its aim is to bring scientific research closer to the public and to help people understand impacts on the marine environment that are not always visible to the naked eye.

The Basque Blue Schools Network is an initiative launched in February 2026 and promoted by AZTI in collaboration with Itsasmuseum, the Donostia Aquarium, Plentziako Itsas Estazioa (PiE-EHU), the ship MATER and Surfrider Spain, to integrate marine knowledge into the school curriculum of schools in the Basque Country and help them obtain European certification.

Since 2000, every October, Itsasmuseum has taken part in the European Heritage Days organised by the Provincial Government of Bizkaia, offering a range of free activities for all audiences: children’s workshops, talks, guided tours, and more.

Itsasmuseum promotes actions that turn protection of the marine environment into direct participation. In February 2024, together with Goazen Up, it organised a plastic waste collection in the Bilbao estuary with families, young people and volunteers. In April 2025, the charity challenge Abracemos el Mar (“Let’s Embrace the Sea”) combined a Bilbao–Getxo swim crossing with waste collections, children’s workshops and awareness activities, linking sport, the environment and social action.

In June 2024, Greenpeace’s icebreaker “Arctic Sunrise” moored at Itsasmuseum’s quay and offered guided tours on board, workshops and awareness activities. These included a screening of the documentary “Before You Eat”, on fishing and human rights, reinforcing reflection on ocean protection and on the social and environmental impact of consumer choices.

Itsasmuseum’s permanent exhibition includes a space dedicated to ocean health. This corner introduces visitors to the main challenges facing the marine environment and suggests everyday actions that can help protect it, making sustainability a lasting part of the museum’s exhibition narrative.

In collaboration with Bilbobentura, this programme combines a museum visit with a trip by canoe, SUP or bicycle to interpret Bilbao’s urban and environmental transformation from the estuary. The experience connects culture, sport and sustainability and offers a reading of the landscape in which water serves as the key to understanding the territory. This activity is offered between April and October to students aged 10 and over and to visiting families.

Erain, Itsasmuseum’s traditional wooden boatbuilding project, recovers traditional techniques applied to the scientific restoration of heritage vessels, such as the Nuevo Anchustegui. The project combines the conservation of tangible and intangible heritage, training, and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge. Collaboration with Otxarki, Lantegi Batuak and Itsas Lagun has made it possible to involve young people at risk of exclusion, people with intellectual disabilities and volunteers of different ages and backgrounds in a shared learning environment.

Itsasmuseum is moving forward with its Accessibility Plan through resources such as a tactile model of the Carola crane, materials in Braille and Easy Read, accessible videos with sign language and subtitles, a haptic map of the museum, and more. The ItsasCaixa programme also provides free or adapted access for social organisations and people with specific needs, in collaboration with La Caixa Foundation and associations such as Gorabide, APNABI, Lantegi Batuak, the Red Cross, the Down Syndrome Foundation of the Basque Country, ONCE, Bakuva and Cáritas Bizkaia, among others.

Taking its two equality plans (2019 and 2023) as a reference, the museum promotes equality through its activities, talks, annual training sessions delivered by Emakunde (“Communication with a gender perspective” and “Masculinities and prevention of sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex in the workplace” from the Gizonduz programme), the multipurpose room Carol Iglesias Espazioa (named in honour of the woman after whom the Carola crane is named) and temporary exhibitions (“Mujeres que tejieron la historia” 2025, “Cargueras. Un trabajo a reivindicar” 2026, etc.).

The humanitarian maritime rescue vessel “Aita Mari” (Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario) moors every year at Itsasmuseum’s quay, with free visits and awareness programmes. Its presence brings the public closer to rescue work at sea, the reality of migrants and refugees, and the humanitarian dimension of the maritime world.

Itsasmuseum develops an ongoing line of activities linked to migration, memory, identity and coexistence. It includes the International Migrants Day events held in 2024 and 2025; Angélica Dass’s participatory exhibition “Un árbol sin raíces no prospera” (“A tree without roots does not thrive”); the workshop “Raíces en movimiento. Red de identidades comunitarias” (“Roots in motion. A network of community identities”); and, in 2026, the project and panel discussion “Museo Migrante Migrante”, which brings together voices from creative practice, mediation, research and lived experience to address archive, belonging, heritage and coexistence. In 2026 Itsasmuseum also took part in a panel discussion, a complementary activity linked to Carne y Arena, aimed at reflecting on violence, xenophobia and discourses of exclusion. The programme broadens the museum’s social role as a space for critical dialogue, listening and civic education. The museum also collaborates with various events held both inside and outside the museum (for example, Afrika Eguna, which takes place in May).

The museum has established itself as a climate shelter in Bilbao, offering the public a cool, accessible place during heatwaves, especially for older people, families and vulnerable groups.