Baboró is proud to play an important role in the national ecosystem of the children's arts sector in Ireland. Our festival is an important gathering place for artists and creatives to see inspiring work, broaden their network of Irish and international peers and presenters, to exchange ideas and to meet potential collaborators. Our artist development programme, GROW, operates year-round, supporting and nurturing artists and creatives to make excellent and innovative work for our young audiences through various opportunities. Festival Mentoring is an important annual part of the GROW programme, and we are delighted to announce that the four artists who will take part this year are Bronwen Barrett, Helga Deasy, Órla Kelly and Declan King.
About Festival Mentoring
Festival Mentoring aims to encourage emerging and established artists who are interested in making work for children to experience Baboró International Arts Festival for Children in an immersive and rewarding way. Over the 3 days, the small group of mentees will:
- experience a curated programme of festival shows and industry events, witnessing high quality international work for young audiences and engaging in discussions, workshops and networking lunches with Irish and international industry professionals;
- be guided by seasoned mentors Phil Kingston (Community and Education Manager, Abbey Theatre) and Maria Fleming (CEO, First Fortnight);
- be paid for their time
The objective is that artists and creatives from varied, diverse backgrounds and identities will be inspired to make work for babies, children and young people in Ireland, having been exposed to world-class Irish and international work.
Bronwen Barrett
Bronwen is a theatremaker, performer, and facilitator. She is a core artist with Freshly Ground and an associate artist with Tallaght Community Arts. Bronwen’s practice is devising-based with an emphasis on community-engaged work. For the past 3 years, she has focused on crafting engaging projects for young audiences.
With Freshly Ground, Bronwen has recently wrapped Sea Legs, a sensory show for early years created in collaboration with the Brookfield Community, fostering connection and creativity through inclusive workshops and co-creation with children and caregivers. Bronwen aims to provide children with unobstructed access to the arts and creatively explore her practice through Gaeilge.
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. She feels passionate about the transformative potential of dance and works in arts and health settings, is a lead-facilitator on the Teacher Artist Partnership Programme and an early-years practitioner with Graffiti Theatre Company.
Órla Kelly
Órla Kelly is a visual artist, creative educationalist and arts manager with a specific practice that focuses on working with and for early years children, aiming to stimulate and support the naturally creative, poetic, philosophical and curious intelligences of the young child.
Órla is the director of Early Childhood Creativity, an initiative that promotes creative thinking, exploration and activity in early years children and their parents through her own work and the synergy of a variety of arts organisations and amazing independent artists working in theatre, music and across the visual arts.
Órla is currently exhibiting work in the Lexicon, Dun Laoghaire and has just completed work for Luxembourg’s inaugural children’s museum, Kannermusée PLOMM.
Declan King
Declan King is a theater maker from Dublin. Having originally trained in Musical Theatre performance at the ICMT Belfast Declan has worked with several of Ireland and the UK’s leading theater companies including Bruiser, Improbable Theater, Big Telly, Cahoots, Gúna Nua, High Rock Productions, Tinderbox, and Terra Nova. He has worked in roles such as director, divisor, ASM, actor, and facilitator.
Declan creates his own work which often has elements of improvisation and audience interaction. These include pieces ‘The Plantin’, ‘Rumble in the Ensemble’ and ‘The Rehearsal Room’. Declan is interested in exploring accessible children's theatre.
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