Baboró International Arts Festival for Children is delighted to announce Cultivate, a new year-long international residency programme in partnership with BRONKS Theatre voor Jong Publiek in Brussels, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland’s International Residency Initiatives Scheme (IRIS). Cultivate is part of Baboró’s GROW artist support and professional development programme.
The residency kicked off at the BRONKS’ biennial EXPORT/IMPORT Festival in November 2025 and brings together two Irish and two Belgian artists to experience, reflect on and respond to work for children across both countries. The Irish artists participating in the project are Dan Colley and James Riordan, two artists whose imaginations and practices continue to push the boundaries of theatre for young audiences. The Belgian artists Frederika Del Nero and Simon D’Huyvetter bring a wealth of experience in theatre-making and education, creating thoughtful, imaginative work with and for young audiences.
Over the next year, Dan, James, Frederika and Simon will be supported to see work for children throughout Belgium and Ireland, and will take part in two week-long residencies at BRONKS in Spring 2026, and later at the stunning Áras Éanna Arts Centre on Inis Oírr in the Autumn of 2026, after attending Baboró festival in Galway.
Cultivate is all about artistic cultural exchange, developing practice, sharing processes and perspectives, and establishing collaborative relationships between artists at an international level. We look forward to seeing what emerges from the project!
Dan Colley
Dan Colley is an independent theatre and film maker with a focus on ensemble-devised work and theatre for young audiences. He trained as a facilitator with Youth Theatre Ireland and has been making theatre for over 15 years.
His shows Lost Lear (winner of The Scotsman Fringe First Award) and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings have toured internationally to New York, Sydney, The Hague, Stockholm, Wellington, Auckland and all over the UK and Canada. He is Theatre-Artist-Residence in Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge. Dan's new piece The Maker, a wordless duet about power, status and the origins of the universe for audiences 6+, premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2025.
James Riordan
James Riordan is a bilingual theatre maker from Galway. As Artistic Director of Galway based Brú Theatre, his recent directing credits include Somnium (Galway International Arts Festival ‘24), Not A Word ( GIAF ‘23, Barbican,London ‘25) and Ar Ais Arís which recently toured to the US and Canada. In 2023, he directed the flagship Macnas parade in Dublin and Galway. The Libravian, a Baboró commission in 2021, most recently toured across Canada in 2025.
In 2024 he was a Resident Director with the Abbey Theatre. He teaches post-graduate Mask, Mime and Movement at Griffith College.
Frederika Del Nero
Frederika Del Nero graduated from RITCS Brussels as an actress after studying literature at Ghent University. She is currently active in theatre as a player, director, playwright and coach but also has a background in radiohosting and voicing. She worked with companies and theatre houses such as BRONKS, 4Hoog, Larf!, hetpaleis, Theater Antigone, Theater Artemis, Crew, BruggePlus Uitwijken, Rode Boom and Tristero. For BRONKS, a youth theatre in Brussels, she works in the education department, guiding the young jury and giving drama workshops. In theatre she was a founding member of the collective K.A.K. that made site-specific plays in empty buildings.
Simon D’Huyvetter
Simon D’Huyvetter (b. 1986) is a Belgian theatre maker and actor who graduated in 2011 from the Drama Department at KASK in Ghent. He has worked as a freelance artist and director with companies such as Kopergietery, DE MAAN, BRONKS, De Batterie, Blauwhuis, BruggePlus, Larf!, and hetpaleis. Since April 2023, he has been the artistic director of 4Hoog in Ghent.
Throughout his trajectory, he has taught theatre workshops to children, young people, and adults, and has guided young participants in socio-artistic projects with De Batterie in Bruges. He is frequently invited as an acting coach and director by emerging makers, especially for productions aimed at young audiences.
