When: Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th of February, 2018
Where: Galway City, Ireland
What: In early 2018, Baboró hosted ‘Wide Eyes’ A European Celebration of Performing Arts for the Very Young. This one-off, four-day event featured a host of:
- Performances for school, crèche and families
- Professional development workshops
- Industry symposia
- Opportunities for European exchange
The event featured fifteen new productions for 0-6 year olds, all of which had been developed specifically for this project. The individual companies each had to create theatrical work under the project’s overarching theme of ‘Wide Eyes’.
According to the project Coordinator ‘Wide Eyes’ are
“the children’s big eyes, hungry for knowledge and eager to take in every detail of the world they see.”
The incredibly diverse array of performances for the event similarly conveyed the “wide eyes” of the participating artists, who created deeply innovative and moving ways of opening audience’s eyes to the world around them. The challenge set by this project was for the artists to step out of their comfort zone and take artistic risks in creating their performances.
Why: This event marked the culmination of ‘Small size, Performing Arts for Early Years’, a four-year-long project, funded by Creative Europe.
Who: This four-year-long project involved:
- A collaborative effort between seventeen Early Years festivals/ production companies throughout fifteen European countries
- Leadership by Roberto Frabetti, La Baracca – Testoni Ragazzi, Bologna, Italy
- This event, hosted by Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, to celebrate the culmination of the project
Small size
A worldwide association dedicated to spreading and supporting the exchange of ideas on performing arts for early years throughout the world, Small size is rooted in the belief that “children, even the youngest ones, have the right to be viewed as spectators of today and not only of tomorrow.”
Baboró’s Role
In 2009, Baboró was invited to join the “Small size, big citizens’ project” and become a part of this network of artists with an enthusiastic passion for developing artistic work for younger audiences. When they became involved with a second project with Small size, Baboró was delighted to not only produce their first production with Branar Téatar de Pháistí as part of the project, but to host the project’s final event: ‘Wide Eyes’ A European Celebration of Performing Arts for the Very Young.
Over 200 European arts professionals travelled to Galway from Small size Partner organisations, in addition to national and international artists, delegates, and audiences to be a part of this very special event for Early Years.
