Liam McCarthy is curator of the Bualadh Bos Children's Festival in Limerick, bringing the very best of national and international performance for young people to Lime Tree & Belltable stage stages, as well as an array of workshops and community events across the county.
He introduces this year's programme below...
We wanted to include more children this year. We wanted more bums on our seats – but also, rather ambitiously, we wanted to include those children and families who, for whatever reason, might never have attended an arts event before. Crucially, we wanted to make sure that children’s voice and opinions were at the very centre of everything we did.
We created a "children’s panel" – a small group of children gathered through our existing community projects. These children participated in collaborative workshops and attended all of our events at last year’s festival. Through months of zooms and in-person sessions, the children offered their insight, their feedback and their opinions for Bualadh Bos 2022. They supported the entire team on the artistic programming and delivery of our festival.
In working in the arts, I find some industry professionals intimated by the idea of child consultation. Perhaps some people believe that you have to follow every suggestion without question or push back. I try for a more collaborative approach. I believe that a children’s panel represents another seat at the table, to be considered equally as you would consider suggestions from your box office manager or your marketing manager, or from a design perspective or from any other team member.
The panel was ambitious - believing that 2022 must be "bigger and better" and that, at all times, we had to be "winning." The panel pushed for more work in schools. They also wanted more international work, more film and more dance. The children were also very keen to be as inclusive as possible – particularly thinking of those who may not be able attend for socio-economic reasons and children with access requirements. We set up our 'Pay it Forward' donation initiative, which will fund tickets for certain families. We expanded our Bualadh Bos on Tour programme, and we are engaging and partnering with many community initiatives, institutions and agencies across Limerick City and County.
Working with a children a panel can be quite a humbling experience. You frequently have to accept that you will get it wrong and that then you’ll get it wrong again. You come to understand that no – you cannot imagine being six and having lived a third of your life in lockdown. That said – it’s important to share your own opinion and that of the entire festival team – as well as the view of the artists and companies. It wasn’t all rosy – and we disagreed more than once. In this year’s festival there is a piece that I was never sure of, but was much loved and insisted upon by the panel. Likewise – there’s a piece that I particularly fought for. We’ll never tell you which is which. We trust each other and hope our many discussions mean that there’s something for everyone.
We’re all excited for de Stilte Dance Company’s presentation of Do Re Me Ka Do –a beautiful dance show for 2-5 year olds by Europe’s leading dance company for children. This year we are hosting Curious Seed’s internationally acclaimed Chalk About - a beautiful show about how we see ourselves. The Egg and Travelling Light Theatre have brought their production of I Wish I was a Mountain – an exceptional and award-winning play adapted from Herman Hesse. Our festival will also feature home-grown work. Fergal, a play about being yourself and the importance of enjoying your own company opens Bualadh Bos this year. We are also welcoming Ireland’s leading theatre company for younger audiences, Branar, with their new show, Grand Soft Day.
Curating a festival is daunting – and I’ve had a few sleepless nights thinking about ticket sales. That said, if we fill even a few seats with children who are coming to their local theatre for their very first time –– then I think we’ll be winning.
The Bualadh Bos Children's Festival is at various venues across Limerick from October 1st – 14th - find out more and get tickets for all Lime Tree & Belltable shows here.
