Baboró is delighted to announce the artists selected for the 4th and final round of the Creative Europe BABEL Project 2024, Helga Deasy and Ursula McGinn. Each artist will attend two European children's arts festivals in 2025.
BABEL - or The Art of Listening in TYA is a European large scale Creative Europe project involving 14 partners from 11 European countries, coordinated by Teatercentrum i Danmark (DK). Over the course of the project, Baboró will support eight artists based in Ireland in attending two participating festivals. Baboró has hosted workshops in 2024 and will host further workshops in 2025, welcoming artists from all across Europe.
Helga Deasy will join a cohort of international creatives for workshops facilitated by JES (Stuttgart) founder and now-freelance director, Brigitte Dethier. These workshops will have particular focus on movement.
Festivals Helga will attend:
- 30 March - 6 April 2025, KLAP (Denmark)
A multidisciplinary festival for children showcasing mostly Danish work - 6 - 10 November 2025, Export/Import Festival (Belgium)
A biannual festival of Belgian and international performances for young audience
Ursula McGinn will take part in workshops facilitated by Alex Byrne, artistic director of New International Encounter (NIE). These workshops will have particular focus on music.
About the festivals Ursula will attend:
- 13 - 17 March 2025, Festival Visioni di Futuro (Italy)
An international early years festival with a focus on theatre - 11 - 15 October 2025
Baboró International Arts Festival for Children (Ireland)
Helga Deasy
Helga Deasy (Ireland/Germany) is a choreographer, dance artist and dance facilitator. Exploring themes of identity, belonging, migration and care through the immediate expressive potential of the moving body, her practice encompasses performance making, cross-disciplinary collaboration and socially engaged dance. It is grounded in choreological studies and her research into somatic practices and empowerment.
A recipient of multiple awards, Helga has created a body of work for stage and film presented nationally and internationally. With ‘Of Bluebells and Butterflies’ supported by Graffiti Theatre and a TRACKS co-commission from Baboró, Cork Midsummer and Dublin Fringe, she presented her first work for young audiences in 2022. She is a lead-facilitator on the Teacher Artist Partnership Programme and an early-years arts practitioner with Graffiti Theatre Company.
Ursula McGinn
Ursula is a director and facilitator from Kildare. She creates work for all ages, but specialises in creating work for/with young people and children. Storytelling, collaborative process and finding magic in the mundane are at the core of her practice.
She is the artistic director of Bombinate Theatre. Recent directing credits include The Haunting of Gusty Nook by Peter Dunne (Axis Theatre, October 2024) and In Real Life by Erica Murray (Abbey Theatre, tour of Dublin schools, September & October 2024).
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.