Baboró is hiring a School Projects Manager to join our year round team. The School Projects Manager coordinates our year-round arts-in-education projects, supports our audience development activities, builds relationships with our school community and oversees the Festival Schools Box Office.

About Baboró

Baboró International Arts Festival for Children is Ireland’s flagship arts festival dedicated to children and families. Baboró is a registered charity which works year-round to bring meaningful arts experiences to children in our community and to support artists making work for young audiences.

Now in its 28th year, our annual international festival dedicated to children is the beating heart of what we do. As demonstrated in Baboró’s Strategic Plan 2023 - 2027, we are committed to making our festival and programmes more equitable. Baboró is building on our work in the community by bringing festival shows and workshops into schools throughout the city and county, touring to rural schools and community libraries, and unearthing new ways of reaching audiences that cannot reach us. We work directly with teachers and schools year-round on innovative arts in education projects in Galway city and county. We are building our community of families, schools, artists and local organisations so that everyone feels that they can belong at Baboró.

About the Role

Baboró’s School Projects Manager is part of our year round team and coordinates our year-round arts-in-education projects, supports our audience development activities, builds relationships with our school community and oversees the Festival Schools Box Office.

The School Projects Manager will work closely with the Outreach Projects Manager. Some projects may include wider community groups and families in addition to schools. These outreach projects feed into the organisation-wide development of an Audience Development Strategy.

Your role will focus on direct communications and activities with schools to connect with teachers and SNAs who bring school children to the festival and year-round events, including schools who may not have engaged with Baboró before. Working closely with the Executive Producer and the Festival Box Office team, you will oversee the Schools Box Office, managing the bespoke booking system for the festival and nurturing Baboró’s vital relationships with crechés, schools, and groups.

Duties & Responsibilities

You will report to Baboró’s Executive Producer. Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Project Management

• Creative Sensory Sessions Project: A new two year project, funded by Rethink Ireland and The Toy Show Appeal Fund will allow time for the research and development of bespoke creative sensory workshops for children with complex needs which can be delivered in school settings by artists specialising in this work. The workshops will be devised in collaboration with Rosedale School in Renmore, Galway in accordance with the needs of the children and the wider school community. Teachers and support staff within the school will have an opportunity to learn creative practices to augment their own teaching practice. This initial work with Rosedale School will inform a new model that will be delivered to more schools in the West of Ireland during the life of the project.
  
  You will oversee management of this project and report regularly to the funders. Your work will involve visits to Rosedale school, compiling detailed meeting notes, managing the project budget.
  
  This role is key to project success as you will be a linchpin in communications between the school, the artists, the funders, researchers and the Baboró team.Creative Schools: Work closely with Baboró’s Creative Schools Associate to build relationships with local schools. You will regularly report progress to the Creative Schools team at the Arts Council and to Baboró.

Schools Audience Development and Communication

• Build long term-relationships with schools in Galway city and county to find out how Baboró can best serve their needs and interests.
• Conduct post-festival surveys and focus groups to gain an insight into the experiences and needs of our school audience and share findings with the Baboró team.
• Visit schools in the city and county outside of festival season (November - June), including schools for children with additional needs, to learn more about their needs, challenges and interests.
• Work with the festival production team to coordinate schools outreach tours where artists present shows or deliver workshops directly in the school hall or classroom.
• Work closely with the Digital Marketing Coordinator on year round newsletters and communications to schools.
  
• Review, redesign and update the schools section of Baboró’s website as needed.
• Regularly review and update schools database.

Schools Box Office Supervision

• Manage Schools Box Office Liaison position, a seasonal role (August-October).
• Oversee the administration of a bespoke Schools Box Office system.
• Schools Box Office financial oversight.
• Development and management of mailing lists and mail outs.
• Regularly review and improve school booking forms and school festival packs.

Candidate Experience and Qualities

You should demonstrate excellent project management skills with the ability to build long-lasting relationships inside and outside the organisation. You are passionate about access to the arts for all children, no matter their circumstance. You enjoy working in a busy environment to multiple deadlines, with a small supportive team.

Essential Skills & Experience

• At least 2 years experience in project management or administration.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, internally and externally.
• Highly organised with excellent planning skills and attention to detail.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a creative team and build strong working relationships and partnerships both internally and externally, as well as on own initiative in a fast-paced festival environment.
• Demonstrate agility and ability to prioritise a busy workload and make informed decisions with multiple deadlines.
• A good working knowledge of relevant policies and legislation, safeguarding and child protection and a willingness to regularly upskill in this area.
• Fluency in English language, both oral and written.
• A friendly, warm and approachable personality.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience working in the education and/or education for children with additional needs sector.
• Experience of working with box office/booking systems.
• A working knowledge of Irish and other languages.
• A passion for the importance of arts provision for children.

Terms and Benefits of Employment

Renumeration

€35,000 gross salary (pro rata for 30 hours per week).

Contract

This is a part-time position (30 hours) and offers a contract to late 2026, subject to 6 months’ probation.

Working hours

This is a part-time role. Working hours and days are flexible and subject to agreement with management according to the needs of the candidate and Baboró. Usual office working hours are Monday to Friday 9.30am - 5.30pm.

Baboró’s offices are located in Galway city centre. You should be based in Galway and should be available to work in the office for the majority of the week, with some flexibility by arrangement. You will be required to work in the office August to October inclusive.

Holidays

20 annual leave days (pro rata) plus up to 4 company days per annum.

Pension

2% pension contribution, following completion of one year’s service.

Disclosure

This post requires disclosure of all criminal record information via Garda Vetting.

Application Details and Key Dates

Please send a cover letter setting out why you feel you are suitable for this position (2 pages max) along with your current CV (2 pages max) to admin@baboro.ie with Schools Project Manager in the subject line. If you have any questions about the role or need assistance with your application please contact the team via email admin@baboro.ie.

Application Closing Date
Thursday 24th October, 12pm

Interview Date
Monday 4th November: Interviews will be held in person in Galway city.

Week of November 18th:
The successful candidate will ideally be available for a handover meeting during this week.