Hullabaloo! Children’s Arts Festival: Offaly County Arts Office
Hullabaloo was originally conceived and nurtured under the auspices of Offaly County Arts Office in partnership with Birr Theatre and Arts Centre as a children’s arts festival in 2007. The festival has since expanded countywide into Clara and Edenderry, making it one of the largest children’s arts event in Ireland.
Addressing the needs that children did not have a dedicated cultural event in the county and that many may not have access to high quality events especially for young audiences, this multi disciplinary event brings a wide diversity of exposure to the arts especially created for children and their families. The festival attracts over 1,500 children over 4 days of the October midterm break to over 60 performances and workshops in 3 towns, making this a truly accessible event.
The quality of the performance and workshop experience for children and their families is hugely important for the Hullabaloo team, who believe that they contribute to nurturing the marvelous and unique sense of wonder and remarkable ability to be curious that children have.
For the most part, participating workshop musicians, actors, artists and dancers are local practitioners, but performances are drawn from professional companies around Ireland and the UK. The programme is diverse each year, ensuring that young audiences are kept spell bound and enthusiastic for more by the time each year is over.