Baboró is back in full swing with the launch of its 2022 festival programme, which promises incredible family fun next month.
The Internation Arts Festival for Children will be back to a full live schedule this October, bringing kids and families together for incredible fun in venues across Galway.
Thousands of children aged up to 13 years, along with their families and teachers, are expected to take part in events of music, theatre, art, literature and more from October 14 – 23.
Baboró returns to a full programme of over 50 live events for an extended festival of 10 days across theatres, galleries, schools and communities in Galway City and County.
The international festival, which celebrates children, families and community through art in all of its forms, will be welcoming companies from all over Ireland and Europe, including Belgium, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Scotland and England.
Baboró is a festival for all children up to 13 years and will include a focus on European work for early years children (0-6 yrs), residencies in special schools, child-led projects and outreach to schools across the city and county.
There are free events for families and schools including literature, visual arts and outdoor events in city and county venues.
Commenting on the 2022 festival programme, Executive Artistic Director, Aislinn Ó hEocha says, “We are thrilled to welcome children with their schools and families back to theatres, galleries and public spaces all over Galway for enthralling performances, inspiring exhibitions and fun workshops.”
“It’s been a tough few years for us all – the festival will bring us together again to collectively experience art in all its forms, encouraging us to gasp, laugh, and clap together as only live art can.”
EARLY YEARS (0-6)
An expanded programme of theatre for early years children (0-6 years) will feature wondrous European shows through Baboró’s partnership with the Creative Europe project, MAPPING.
Théâtre de la Guimbarde will present Tiébélé, a show that echoes the beautiful traditions of women from a village in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Combining poetry and plastic, soil and song, organic matter and manmade materials.
A creation that links the ancestral gestures of these African women to toddlers’ first attempts to draw. Frames, from Italian company and festival favourites La Barraca, is a visual theatre show with very few words, that celebrates the power of memory and imagination.
Danish company Theatre Madam Bach returns with You Are Here (Du Er Her), about finding your way in the world – and within yourself. This gentle performance weaves stories of adventures big and small from images, objects, words and musical soundscapes. Why not ride a bike all the way around the world? Just because you can!
Produced by Branar, in association with Drama NUI Galway and Baboró as part of Creative Europe’s Mapping Project, Rothar asks, ‘Where can you go when there is nowhere to go?’. In the little bike shop at the end of town a world of adventure awaits. Two boys and their bikes travel the world in a show that conjures play from the everyday and where anything is possible.
Also from Branar in a co-production with New International Encounter is A Grand Soft Day, a curious and charming new show that celebrates the wonder of the world around us.
Of Bluebells and Butterflies from Graffiti: BEAG is a charming interactive dance theatre performance for babies (up to 12 months) and their adults.
A TINY MUTINY
Baboró commission, Tiny Mutiny/An Ceannairc Beag Bídeach, will celebrate children as artists in their own right as they create colourful, boisterous protest performances in both Ros Muc and Galway city.
Two youth ensembles will proclaim the need for a child-led cultural space in the West of Ireland. Working with local artists, Jojo Hynes, Midie Corcoran, Róisín Seoige & Atmos Collective, each ensemble will share their vision through protest performances accompanied by colourful banners, rebellious songs and digital projections.
They have created their visions and proclamations in response to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The exciting site specific events take place at Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh and Galway City Museum.
IRISH AND INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Irish and international theatre, film, spoken word, circus and dance theatre will feature across Galway’s venues.
Join Le Cirque de Bout du Monde’s surreal world of Der Lauf, where nothing is quite as it seems. Two circus performers compete in a series of bizarre challenges as they juggle blindly, spin plates wildly and stack glasses wearing enormous boxing gloves.
As the glasses rise, so do the stakes. Will you, their only guide, help lead them to safety or towards further peril?
Ballet Ireland and exciting young choreographer Roisín Whelan present The Glasshouse, a dance performance for children aged 6+. It is the story of earnest young Fiach, who is on a mission to repopulate the world with plants and turn it green.
This fun and compelling show is about the courage of the human spirit, friendship and life’s determination to survive.
It is a feast for the eyes and senses, with moments of suspense and joy, exhilarating dancing, vibrant costumes and magical music to enthral children and families.
Family Portrait is a video installation capturing Barrowland Ballet’s Artistic Director, Natasha Gilmore, and her children in an intimate portrayal of family life.
Through striking imagery, choreography and intricate soundscapes, a series of narratives unfold. See the family through choreographed sequences and candid moments as they encounter the many different landscapes of Scotland
Through spoken word, former Glastonbury Poetry Slam Champion Toby Thompson will perform I Wish I was a Mountain using rhyme, live music, and just a smattering of metaphysical philosophy to boldly reimagine Herman Hesse’s classic fairytale. Adults are kindly requested to leave all answers to these questions at the door. Children, come as you are.
Chalk About from Scotland’s Curious Seed, is a playful, funny and moving look at how we see ourselves and others, featuring dance, chalk, chat, and one perfect scene containing everything you could wish for!
Up-Close from Irish dance artist, Monica Muñoz, is an outdoor performance about trusting each other, building resilience together and letting go of the past. A highly physical dance show blending contemporary and street dance styles and peppered with humour.
THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRL AUDIO DRAMA
Audiences from around the country can tune into BrokenCrow’s The Little Robber Girl on Baboró.ie and RTÉ Jr throughout the festival. Join Mattie, her little dog Arthur, and her new friend Finn in an exciting audio drama, as they go in search of Mattie’s missing Mammy and return with much more than buried treasure.
VISUAL ART
Widden Ar Geels (The Community Speaks) at Galway Arts Centre will showcase two of Ireland’s leading artists, Leanne McDonagh and Oein DeBhairduin, as they celebrate the stories and oral traditions of the Irish Traveller community by creating an inclusive space for all to enjoy the magic and wisdom imbued in the craft and stories of the Mincéirí.
Immerse yourself in Traveller stories of vixens, owls and horses who live alongside humans as guides, protectors, friends and foes, while spirits, giants and fairies blur the lines between this world and the otherworld.
At Engage Art Studios in Salthill, Lucy Hill presents FOLD, an exhibition for children 8 years and under that explores ideas of openness, relationships, colour, form and line.
Inspired and informed by Early Childhood Education and Care philosophies, the show explores the relationship between art and early childhood learning elements including colour, shape, form, line and texture.
Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to create their own art with prompts and materials from the artist.
LITERATURE
We all remember the night Adam King stole our hearts with A Hug For You on The Late, Late Toy Show. Join Adam and his father David King for a special family event based on the book A Hug for You that follows a new hug’s adventure and the boy who shared it with the world.
Adam and David King also bring Manage your Moody Monsters to the Mick Lally Theatre. A brand new adventure where we’ll learn the
