What's on in Galway

Baboró International Arts Festival for Children
12th - 18th October 2009
http://www.baboro.ie/

Ireland's Flagship International Arts Festival for Children

"Children need the arts as much as they need fresh air, says Philip Pullman. Otherwise they perish on the inside ..." - The Guardian - Philip Pullman on the Arts and Children

This October marks a significant development in the life of Baboró. Ireland's flagship Children's Festival is celebrating its thirteenth year with a sophisticated entry into the world of the adult. For the last twelve years Galway city and county has been alive with the sound and sight of thousands of children and families attending performances, shows, workshops and other activities during Baboró.

The Festival has had a remarkable journey, inspiring artists and mesmerizing audiences along the way. Baboró has helped to explore what the arts mean for children and arts practitioners internationally and at home. To mark the Festival's journey into its thirteenth year, Baboró will feature 13 stunning companies in 13 special venues across Galway. 

Baboró 2009 explores a wealth of astonishing international performance featuring Italy, Canada, Denmark, Portugal, the UK, The Netherlands and Northern Ireland. Festival 2009 also welcomes a record-breaking selection of performances and collaborations from Irish companies. Expect something mesmerizing for all the family from the magical worlds of spectacle, theatre, opera, dance, music, visual arts, circus, puppetry, storytelling, readings, poetry, master-classes, a documentary exhibition, drumming circles and speed dating for teachers!

This year's Festival is peppered with performances for children, teenagers and adults and anyone with a sense of creative curiosity.

Baboró 2009 will conjure a dazzling spell of artistic magic with performances that range from theatre shows revealing pure bliss to an unforgettable one-man circus comedy act. The cultural blitz this October involves dogs, polar bears, guinea pigs, snails, goldfish, woodpeckers and a shoal of punk rock sardines all of which will be set free after Baboró 2009!  Please do not try this at home.

 Baboró - Festival Coups and Highlights

• Dutch dance pioneers Introdans for Youth present Black & White especially for Baboró - including dance pieces from the repertoire of internationally famed choreographers, Paul Lightfoot & Sol León and William Forsythe; this programme also contains the energetic work of Robert Battle and the humorous work of Fernando Melo.
  

• Documentary Exhibition Champion of the Child tells the moving and inspiring story of Janusz Korczak (1879 -1942). A pioneer of children's rights and a key influence on the 1979 UN Convention on the Rights of a child, Korczak devoted his life to the rights and wellbeing of children, regardless of nationality or religion. The exhibition at Baboró charts his efforts to protect children from the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto before his death in Treblinka concentration camp.

• La Baracca return due to popular demand from Italy with E poi...cadono! for 1-4 year olds that explores the magic of image, movement, light and sound with exquisite beauty and grace.

• The Musician, a chilling, horror opera, from Cahoots NI in Northern Ireland. The Musician reinvents the tale of the Pied Piper, a story of broken dreams and broken music, which challenges the imagination of its young audience. With magic, dance and its very own orchestra The Musician is written and composed by Conor Mitchell (recent collaborator with Pet Shops Boys and the Peter Hall Company).

• Circus INcognitus - a Baboró first. Jamie Adkins from Canada (of Cirque Éloize & Cirque du Soleil) presents a pulsating and poetic feat involving slackwire, juggling and astounding acrobatics.

"Though Mr Adkins' best routines draw oohs and ahs, he is just as successful at drawing laughs" New York Times

• ShakaBang - featuring Dermot Carmody and Morgan C Jones (International Improv & Newstalk's The Emergency) have created a hilarious live music and comedy show- There's a Snail in the Garden - vaudeville for children.

• Macnas will present The Explorer, a journey maker's story on the streets, in a house, garage warehouse on the moon or in a tree house in Galway. Keep posted on exciting top-secret developments on www.baboro.ie

• Natural Born Artists -This October, the festival organisers have programmed an international conference to examine just what the benefits of the arts and creativity are for children. The Natural Born Artists conference marks Baboró's commitment to examining and discussing the arts for early years with a view to further Irish research and artistic development in this arena.

For further information & images please contact:

Kathy Scott
Kathy Scott Projects
Publicity/Public Relations
katscottpr@gmail.com  

Tel: + 353 86 3593553

Natural Born Artists Conference Fri October 16th & Sat October 17th

Book your flights here today!

www.discovergalway.ie