If you know us from our annual arts festival for children, which takes place in Galway each year in October, you might not know that Baboró also runs a year round artist development programme called GROW for creatives making work for young audiences in Ireland. In 2023, GROW supported 40 artists through 10 projects and opportunities.
This year, we are delighted to announce the schedule of GROW artist opportunities for 2024. We hope providing this information will be helpful to artists planning their creative work for the year.
Below, you'll find an overview of this year's opportunities. More information about each will be shared when applications open.
BABEL Round 3
Applications open Wednesday 6 March
BABEL - or The Art of Listening in TYA is a European large scale Creative Europe project involving 14 partners from 11 European countries. In 2023, Baboró supported two artists who attended creative workshops at festivals in Lithuania, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
Two artists will be selected for Round 3 of the project, and each will have the opportunity to attend two festivals in the coming year. The Round 3 festivals are Festival Lutke (Slovenia), Festival El Petit (Spain), Baboró (Ireland) and Kitoks Festival (Lithuania).
Áras Éanna Residency
Applications open Wednesday 1 May
For the second year, Baboró will partner with with Áras Éanna Art Centre to offer a residency on the island of Inis Oírr, ideally for an artist working as Gaeilge.
Read about last year's Áras Éanna residency here.
Festival Mentoring
Applications open Wednesday 1 May
During our annual festival in October, a small group of participants will be led through a curated programme of festival shows and industry events including discussions, presentations, workshops and networking events.
Find out more about Festival Mentoring here.
BABEL Round 4
Applications open Wednesday 11 September
Two artists will be selected to take part to attend two festivals each in 2025. The Round 4 festivals are Festival Visioni di Futuro (Italy), Baboró (Ireland), KLAP (Denmark) and Export/Import Festival (Belgium).
Find out more about the BABEL project here.
Go See Fund
Ongoing opportunity
Baboró is delighted to offer a small Go See Fund to support artists and creatives to travel within Ireland to see work for children. The fund is designed for those who make or wish to make work for children and will support the cost of event tickets and travel within the island of Ireland, up to a maximum of €100 per application.
Dates at a glance
About GROW
What is GROW?
GROW is Baboró's year round artist development programme for creatives making work for young audiences in Ireland.
Who is GROW for?
If you are interested in making creative work for young people, GROW is probably for you! Different GROW opportunities are directed at individuals with different levels of experience. Some will be aimed at emerging artists, while others will be aimed at more established and mid-career artists.
How will I know if an opportunity is for me?
When we open an application call out, the online details will clearly state who the opportunity is for and the level of experience required. Our goal is always to provide artists with a straightforward and accessible application process.
If you have any questions about GROW, please feel free to contact our Artist & Programme Coordinator Rachel at rachel[at]baboro.ie.