The Project

'For the Love of Sweat!' (working title) is a co-creation project where a performance artist will work with Darren O’Donnell, Artistic and Founding Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex and Galway primary school children to develop a new sport. The project will be co-lead by the selected artist and Darren. The selected artist will act as Artistic Coach and will assemble and work with a team of students to study the development and design of physical games. Together the Artistic Coach and children will create a spectacular, playful, crazy, new sport. They design and run a tournament for the new sport during Baboró 2020, sharing their new sport with the rest of their school and the public, inviting them to compete in the tournament. The tournament is both a tournament and a performance with costumes, lots of costumes.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a performance artist with expertise in either live art, performance, dance or theatre to become Artistic Coach on this innovative project.

Baboró is teaming up with Canadian artist Darren O’Donnell, the students of St. Patrick’s Primary School in Galway and, together with the Artistic Coach, we are creating a brand new innovative sport. The school team will teach this new sport to the world in a public tournament as part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children in October 2020.

As Artistic Coach, you will work in collaboration with Baboró, Darren and the young people to research, devise and deliver our incredible new sport. As Artistic Coach you will co-lead the team with Darren, tweeting the whistle and inspiring and motivating the team.

Suitable for an artist who is interested in working with children and in developing work within a collaborative team.

Project Timeline

Late November/December 2019 to June 2020
Artist will visit the school once a week to recruit the participants for the project and meet with key contacts in the school. They will work remotely on developing the project with Darren. The artist and selected children will work together once a week to design a new sport.

Week beginning 6 March 2020 (5 full days)
Artist and Darren will have a 5 day intensive meeting/workshops in Galway.

Week beginning 8 or 15 June 2020 TBC (5 full days)
Artist and Darren will have a 5 day intensive meeting/workshops in Galway.

September 2020 Artist will visit the school once a week to complete the development of the sport and prepare for Festival 2020.

4-18 October 2020 (10 full days)
Artist and Darren will work together with school children to present the finished sport as part of Baboró festival.

Applicants must be available to work in Galway for all of the above dates. This is a paid position.

The Partners

Darren O’Donnell is an urban cultural planner, novelist, essayist, playwright, filmmaker, performance director and the Artistic and Founding Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex. He holds a BFA in theatre and a M.Sc in urban planning. His books include Social Acupuncture (2006), which argues for ethics of civic engagement, and Haircuts by Children and Other Evidence for a New Social Contract (2018), which proposes the cultural sector as a site to pilot a new social contract with children. As an urban culture planner his focus is on participation and, in particular, the radical engagement of children and young people at the core of cultural institutions. Past and current planning collaborators include the Humboldt Forum, The Tate Modern, the West Kowloon Cultural District, the London International Festival of Theatre, the Metropolitan Region of Rhine-Neckar, the Schauspielhaus Bochum and the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art. With a physical education teacher for a father, his childhood was totally immersed in sports, from which he fled into the arts. Now, more mature, he's hoping to connect with his jockish roots.

St. Patrick’s Primary School Galway is located in the heart of Galway city centre, close to St. Nicholas Cathedral. Traditionally an all-boys school, it has recently welcomed girls and hopes to become a fully co-educational school by 2022.

Baboró International Arts Festival for Children is Ireland’s only international performing arts festival dedicated to children and families. The annual festival features a multi-disciplinary programme of Irish and International work, and takes place in Galway in October every year. The project is one of three special projects being developed in partnership with Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture.

Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. As one of the largest cultural events in the world, Galway 2020 promises to deliver a year of thrilling, life-enhancing experiences through culture and the arts. The exciting pan-European programme for the year will see events in unexpected venues and locations throughout the region on the islands, in remote villages, in fields, mountains and on beaches. From food, music, dance, literature and visual arts to poetry, theatre, sport and largescale spectacle, everyone will get the opportunity to enjoy a fun-filled, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Criteria for Application

• Applicants must be living and working in Galway city or county, or in the surrounding region, as this project has been designed in part to build capacity among artists in the region.

• You must be a passionate artist with experience in either live art, performance, dance or theatre AND an interest in sports and games as forms of art, or experience in competitive sports.
• You must be talented, irreverent, ridiculous, athletic (somewhat), good natured and great at motivating people to reach for the stars and consistently beat their personal best.
• And you need to have a love of sweat! A love of sweets would also be an asset!
• You must be available to work in Galway for all dates noted above.

Apply: Please send your CV (2 pages) and a personal statement (1 page) describing why you would like to be involved in this project and confirming your availability for the full programme. Please include evidence of your practice, if available - links to videos, images etc. Soft copy only please. Please include evidence of current Garda Vetting or your willingness to be Garda vetted.

Closing Date: Monday 23rd September at 6pm.

Submission: Applications should be submitted to producer[@]baboro.ie via email including Performance Artist Call Out 2019’ in the subject line.

Interviews will be held on Monday 30th September in Galway and can be done via Skype if necessary.