Our festival programme has dedicated performances for schools, with subsidised tickets for students, and free tickets for teachers and SNAs. We also provide a dedicated Schools Box Office to assist schools groups with their booking and festival experience.
Preparing for Your Trip to Baboró
If you are attending Baboró with a school group, please familiarise yourself with the information below.
Important information for teachers (including parking information for buses)
Please read to your students:
Preparing for Your Visit to Baboró
Ag Ullmhú do Chuairt ar Baboró
School Box Office Contact
Schools Box Office Liaison: Mars Duignan
Email: schools@baboro.ie
Phone: 091 532 985
Sign up to our newsletter and select "Schools and Educators" to receive the online booking form, box office information, and programme announcements via email.
2024 Schools Booking Requests are Now Closed
If you submitted a booking request by 9 September, you will be contacted the week of 16-20 September. Please note that your booking is not confirmed until you have received an offer email.
Places are still available in The Galaxy of Occupations at The Mall Theatre, Tuam on Tuesday 15 October. Please submit a booking request form here if you are interested in this event.
About the Booking Process
School groups are invited to submit booking request forms from Monday 26 August until Monday 9 September at midnight. Requests are considered after this date, but many events may be fully booked.
Our Schools Box Office allocates events to school groups using booking request forms. When processing these requests, we take great care to consider groups' preferences, availability, and access needs. Please use the booking request form as an opportunity to provide as much information as possible to help us accommodate your group.
1. Review the festival programme
This will help you to decide which shows you would like to attend with your class or group. Please pay attention to age and class guidelines to get the most from your Baboró experience. The festival programme will be posted to your school in late August, and available online in early September.
2. Complete the online Schools Booking Request Form
Please complete a booking request form stating your preferred performances and times you are available. When you submit the request form, you will receive an automated copy of your responses to the email address you provided. Please note that your booking is not yet confirmed at this stage. We will contact you no later than 20 September with an offer via email.
While we cannot guarantee that you will receive your first choice event, every effort will be made to accommodate all groups' preferences, availability and needs.
3. Offer and confirmation
We will contact you in mid-September with confirmation of your booking based on your preferences, followed by an invoice. Please note that bookings are not considered complete until payment has been received.
We strive to offer a programme that allows every child equal access to world-class arts for children, regardless of intellectual or physical ability.
Please call Mars on 091 532 985, or email schools@baboro.ie, to discuss show suitability, venue accessibility, seating, lighting, and any other information that may be relevant to your students' needs.
There will be an Irish Sign Language performance of Chotto Desh on Tuesday 15 October at 11am and Grace on Monday 14 October at 9.45am. All performances of Grace are relaxed and contain creatively-embedded access including captions.
Two shows in this year's programme, Fields of Tender and The Unexpected Gift, are dedicated to small school groups of children with complex needs. Please be aware that due to the nature of these shows, availability is very limited and we will unfortunately not be able to accommodate all requests.
Performance Ticket: €6.50
DEIS Performance Ticket: €5.50
Creative Workshops: Free
Visual Art & Exhibitions: Free
Teacher and SNA Tickets:
- Schools: 1 free teacher ticket per 10 students
- Pre-Schools: 1 free teacher ticket per 5 students
- Additional Needs Groups: As required
- Before you begin the booking request form, you may find it helpful to compile your school's contact information, as well as the name and mobile number of the teacher who will accompany pupils on the day of their visit.
- We ask for 3 preferred shows to get a sense of your students’ interests and enthusiasms. Every effort is made to match each group with one of their preferred shows, but please know that selecting a show on the booking form is not a guarantee that places will be available.
- Booking for a single class (approx. 30 children) means you are more likely to be allocated to your preferred events. We are more than happy to have larger groups, but your allocated show will depend on venue capacity.
- Please use the booking form to clearly communicate which dates and times your group will not be able to attend the festival, such as swimming lessons or other commitments.
- Contact us as soon as possible if the number of children in your group change
If you need to make a change to your booking
Rescheduling may not be possible. Should an unavoidable conflict arise, we will do our best to find another suitable performance for your group. However, due to the volume of bookings we receive, our capacity to rearrange individual group’s schedules is very limited. Many shows are likely to be fully booked and it may not be possible to reallocate your group’s booking later.
If the number of people in your group changes, please let us know as soon as possible so we can amend your booking. Please be aware that we cannot refund tickets after the 9 October payment deadline.
Baboró has been supported by local businesses and individuals to help schools with transportation costs. When your booking is confirmed, you will receive details about how to claim back some of your bus hire costs after the festival.
How to Apply for the Bus Subsidy
Please pay your own travel costs in full, then send the completed form plus receipt/proof of payment to:
Baboró, 2nd Floor, Augustine Court, Augustine Street, Galway, H91 VXT1.
The deadline to apply is Wednesday 13 November.
The Bus Subsidy Form is available to download here
Bus subsidies are paid via bank transfer. Please email schools@baboro.ie if your school is unable to receive bank transfers, and we can arrange to post a cheque.
Terms
- In order to help us continue this service and due to limited funds, we kindly ask schools to avail of this offer only where they could not otherwise attend.
- We offer a subsidy up to 50% based on a maximum of €1.25 per child for schools in Galway City and €2 per child for schools outside Galway City, whichever is the lesser amount.
- We also offer a mileage subsidy for school groups who have their own school transport. A payment of 50¢ per mile is available for schools required to travel more than 2 miles to performances.
- Please submit a subsidy form for each return journey.
- Forms submitted after the deadline are not eligible for the subsidy
Please put the name of the performance on the board in advance so that children will be able to inform their parents what they are going to see.
Please speak to your class about what to expect when they come to the festival and what is expected of your students for whom this may be their first time visiting a theatre or gallery. Please ensure that you as teachers/SNAs actively engage with the performance/ exhibition/ workshop with your students as a shared experience.
We have noticed that children watching a performance will chat softly about the show amongst themselves, this is an active form of engagement and is not disruptive. It is not necessary to ‘Shhh’ children when they are doing this. However, loud talking or disruptive behaviour is, of course, not permissible and the artists should be respected.
Information to share with your students:
Preparing for Your Visit to Baboró
Ag Ullmhú do Chuairt ar Baboró
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