The 20th Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, Ireland’s flagship festival for children and families, has been under way all week and there is still plenty to catch this weekend. Festival organisers are encouraging families to make a day of it and to enjoy the full Baboró experience which includes shows, workshops, and free exhibitions.
This year’s programme features some of the most imaginative Irish and international work from Ireland, Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, and the UK. The weekend’s line-up offers an exciting mixture of theatre, dance, music, puppetry, film, animation, exhibitions, talks, and workshops.
“We’re delighted to share our 2016 programme with children, families, and schools and we look forward to welcoming you all to Baboró over the next seven days in Galway,” said the festival’s executive artistic director, Aislinn ÓhEocha. “There’s so much on offer and I’d just like to remind families that they can make a day of it at the weekend and take in all that the festival has to offer from shows, exhibitions, to workshops. We’d also like to thank our many sponsors including KBC and Medtronic, and the Galway business community, for their generous support year on year. Wishing everyone a wonderful time at Baboró.”
This weekend’s highlights include The Queen Has Vanished from Belgian company Kopergietery, featuring live music and illustration created right before your eyes (ages six plus, Saturday and Sunday ); plenty of toe-tapping tunes in The Gold Digger from Teatret Møllen in Denmark (ages 10 plus, Friday to Sunday ); while Theatre Lovett will be serving up songs, fun, and fright with their vastly entertaining musical fable, A Feast of Bones, featuring the stunning voice of Lisa Lambe and Louis Lovett’s comical blusters (ages nine and up, Thursday to Saturday ). There’s also something for the youngest festival-goers with Branar’s The Shape of Things (ages six months to two years ), and Youth Ballet West will present two performances of Alice Underground at the Town Hall Theatre on Sunday (both shows are sold out ). Due to demand, an extra performance of Whoosh! (ages one to four ) has been added on Sunday at 9.30am.
There is also a chance to embark on some Robotic Adventures in a fun and interactive way in The Portershed, just off Eyre Square. This is the perfect environment for children to be creative, innovative, and inspired, while learning important skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, design, and computer programming. Presented by Colmac Robotics there is a family drop-in-zone between 12.30pm and 4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday for ages six and up, as well as other workshops during the weekend.
Your Baboró experience is not complete without a visit to Baboró’s Creative Lab in the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway, where artists Deirdre Rogers and Orla Kelly will guide you through creative ways to use a wealth of unusual materials. Following the success of last year’s Happy Heart Zone, there are drop-in times for all the family and also scheduled workshops for both children and adults on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 2pm and 3pm to 5pm.
There is an extensive programme for grown-ups too, which includes a series of talks including one with Aoibheann McNamara, mother and restaurateur (founder of Ard Bia at Nimmo’s and co-founder of the Tweed Project ) who together with Eoin Warner will speak about nurturing your child’s love of food through travel and adventure. This takes place on Saturday at 4pm in Ard Bia, The House. This is a fundraiser for Baboró. Tickets are €10.
Don’t miss the free exhibitions at Galway Arts Centre; Becoming: The Adventures of Growing Up and Juniper at the Town Hall Theatre. These are free and are open all weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
Baboró would like to acknowledge the continued support of the Arts Council and Galway City and County Councils.
For up to date details for this weekend see www.baboro.ie and keep an eye on the Baboró Facebook page. Baboró runs in various venues throughout Galway through to this Sunday. For phone bookings call 091 569 777.
