What is the Children's Panel?
The Baboró Children’s Panel is made up of children from across Galway city and county in 4th/5th class. The Children’s Panel plays an important role in shaping Baboró's work, and in making all children feel welcome, heard and represented at Baboró and in our community. Baboró is a festival which belongs to the children of Galway, and it's important to us that children's voices inform the development of our organisation and our programmes.
From September until June, the panel meets each month for creative workshops with Baboró Artist in Residence Maisie Lee and Outreach Projects Manager Bry Hussey. Each member of the Children’s Panel brings their vibrant curiosity, interests and talents to each meeting. These monthly meetings ensure their input is a regular part of Baboró’s planning and decision-making.
What does the Children's Panel do?
Baboró Children’s Panel meet monthly on Saturday afternoons from September until June, with special events and behind-the-scenes experiences during the Baboró festival. The children’s voices and perspectives inform how we present our annual programme, as well as our year round work with schools and communities.
Members meet once a month to:
- Take part in creative workshops
- Advise the Baboró team on what they would like to see and hear from Ireland's flagship festival dedicated to children and families
- Attend creative events
- Meet new friends
- Express their opinions and perspectives
Find Out More
If you would like to find out more about the panel, you can contact Bry on outreach@baboro.ie.
Maisie Lee is a freelance director of theatre and radio. Her radio documentary Don't Forget to Wash Your Hands, commissioned by Baboró International Arts Festival for Children for our 2021 festival, won an IMRO Award for Best Music, Arts and Culture Documentary in 2022.
Recent work includes Unseen Plays, Abbey Theatre; Playmaking for Backstage Theatre; 14 Voices from the Bloodied Field, Abbey Theatre; EMBARGO, Fishamble New Play Company; In our Veins, Abbey Theatre; DNA, Backstage Youth Theatre; A Christmas Carol, The Ark and Revolution Radio for RTE2FM. Maisie was Resident Assistant Director in the Abbey Theatre 2013-2014. Maisie was recently mentor to the 21 NASC Network Young Curators for Lasta Festival as part of Brightening Air/Coiscéim Coiligh.
She is a Creative Associate for the Arts Council’s Creative Schools project. Maisie was the Artist in Residence in Backstage Theatre Longford with a focus on work for children and young people from 2018 – 2021.
Bry Hussey joined in 2022 as Outreach Projects Manager, a new part time role in the Baboró team. She will develop, deliver, and manage Baboró’s arts in education and participatory projects.
Bry is a visual artist originally from Dublin and recently moved back to Ireland from the UK. She is an experienced freelance arts manager and facilitator who has worked with local authorities, arts centres and national institutions in the UK and Ireland, most recently with the National Gallery of Ireland and Tottenham Hale International Studios in London.
Bry is passionate about community engagement; empowering children to tell their stories; the relationship between education and creativity and advocating for wider access and encouraging inclusive practices in the arts.
To contact Bry, email outreach@baboro.ie.
Supported by
The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) is an independent office with two main roles; to deal with complaints made by or for children and young people about the actions of public organisations, and to promote the rights and welfare of children and young people under 18 living in Ireland.
The OCO promote children’s rights and welfare by finding out what children and young people are concerned about and highlighting their opinions to people who make decisions that affect them. They help people, especially young people, to find out about children’s rights and how those rights can be respected and made real. The OCO advises Government and others to help make sure laws and plans respect children’s rights, and encourage public organisations to promote children’s rights in the work that they do. The OCO also carry research to get a better understanding of issues that are important in children and young people’s lives.
