This project invites children to engage with art through facilitated philosophical dialogue, and provides them with tools to reflect on creative experiences. In 2026, Dr Michela Dianetti is working with groups of children in 3 primary schools and 3 youth centres in Galway city. The schools involved are Mercy Primary School, Scoil Bhride Shantalla, and Galway Educate Together National School. The youth centres are ARD Family Resource Centre, Ballybane ACE club, and Westside Youth Project in collaboration with COPE Galway.

The project has three elements:

1. Designing and delivering pre- and post-festival philosophical sessions for the children involved in the project, to make the most of their experience at the Baboró festival and explore the big ideas that emerge from their festival visit.
2. Creating audio resources for all teachers attending the Baboró festival with their class, to help prepare their students to think about the big questions that we encounter in seeing performances and explore these before and after their visit.
3. Setting up the ‘Thinking Studio’ as part of the Baboró 2026 festival programme, an interactive space where children and their families can engage with thought experiments, big questions, and imaginative activities in relation to their festival experience.

All these activities are based on the framework of the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI). This is a flexible method for open dialogues about complex philosophical concepts (big ideas like: freedom, time, joy, happiness and creativity) in a way that is accessible to anyone, and in this project, it allows the children to lead the dialogue. The visit to the Baboró festival will act as a starting point for exploring big ideas and identifying important questions that engaging with art can help us to think about, empowering children to not only reflect on what they have seen, but also to connect these experiences to broader questions in their lives, communities, interests and experiences beyond the festival. 

Through CPI, children develop communication skills, confidence in speaking and listening, and the ability to engage thoughtfully with ethical and social questions. In this way, the project contributes to the formation of reflective, attentive, and participatory citizens by focusing on the often underestimated role of engagement with the arts.