Biography
José Antonio Alcayaga III is a graphic designer, web developer, and photographer. He has been working in the interactive industry for over 10 years in New York City and Connecticut. He received his B.F.A. degree in Computer Graphics and Interactive Media from the Pratt Institute in 2001.
José is the Creative Director at Archaeos, Inc., a non-profit organization in New York City dedicated to archaeological research and education. In 2002 and 2003, he was a surveyor for the Archaeos Survey Project at Vijayanagara, India. Vijayanagara, the "City of Victory", was the capital city of a Hindu empire from the 14th - 16th century. In October 2002, a web site José created about the survey project was accepted and presented at UNESCO's Virtual Congress World Heritage in the Digital Age Conference in Alexandria, Egypt.
In 2008 José studied the Basque culture and Euskara, the Basque language, through the University of the Basque Country in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
José wished to unite those who share his surname which is Basque in origin. Prior to his trip he created a group on the Facebook social network web site in order to open up a forum for discussing ancestry. Currently the group, "Alcayagas del Mundo/Alcayagas of the World", has approximately 920 members. Most recently José has organized the first Basque Language & Culture Meetup in New York City. The Basque Radio-television station EITB published an article about this initiative.
During his travels José was able to meet with relatives from both the North and South Basque Country. He was interviewed by the Basque diaspora and culture web site, Euskalkultura.com. José is a member of the Euzko-Etxea of New York and the Society of Basque Studies in America.
José resides in Connecticut and works in New York City.