After thirteen years, the Babor— childrenÕs festival is all grown up

The organisers of this year’s Baboró Festival for Children, which was launched on Monday evening, have decided that in the midst of all our economic doom and gloom, people need to be entertained and cheered up. And so, instead of cutting the programme of events at the 14th Festival, which runs from October 11 to 17 they have gone for both quality and quantity.

There are dance performances, theatre clowning, puppetry and music catering from all age groups – from year-and-a-half olds to 15-year-olds, although even 90-year-old ‘youngsters’ will find plenty to please. The companies taking part come from as close by as Connemara and as far away as Italy, taking in Germany, France, Spain and Scotland along the way.

This year there’s even a Silent Disco for kids. Although silent discos – where people dance collectively, but wear headphones, so they can all listen to their own choice of music – are common among adults, this is a first for kids, says Baboró General Manager, Teenagh Cunningham, adding that it’s the brainchild of Gugai, the music programmer of the Róisín Dubh pub and is being co-presented with Róisín Beag.

This won’t be the first time that Baboró has broken new ground. The young people’s event which started in the 1990s as a section within Galway Arts Festival, was first held independently in 1997 and at that time was moved to October from July to make it more accessible for school groups.

It has expanded its remit steadily over the years and, although it’s still described as a festival, it’s much more than that, thanks to an outreach programme for schools and communities, its development work with young Irish companies who produce work for young people,and its role as a forum where international producers can see quality Irish work for young people.

But for most people who’ll be attending the event in October, the programme is what matters and it promises plenty. There are three reasons why Baboró didn’t have to cut its programme this year, explains Teenagh.

The first was that medical technology company Medtronic has come on board as sponsors; the second is that the festival has a massive box office target with an audience capacity of 20,000 people. The third, and from the audience point of view, the most important, is that Baboró’s Artistic Director Lali Morris “was very judicious in her programming”, according to her colleague.

“The shows are all fantastic quality, but there are also recognisable names,” she says, giving four examples – The Gingerbread Man, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Jack (as in Jack the Beanstalk), and The Secret Garden are all based on well known works.

“With shows like this, new people will come along, while those who are familiar with Baboró will take a punt on all the shows.”

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.