News
Vital Spark ignites in Galway!
Artistic Director Christopher Gorry celebrated the start of this year’s Vital Spark Artist Relationship Programme.
Coming to you live from Galway!
We’re taking a selection of this year’s Vital Spark Relationship Programme cohort to the festival as part of The Spark’s commitment to making the Performances for Young Audiences sector more inclusive and relevant.
I’m excited that the first show they will get to experience is “Little Murmur” by the Leicester-based Aakash Odedra Company, originally co-commissioned as part of Vital Spark in 2021.
We’ve been able to grow the impact of the Relationship Programme through a partnership with Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, which has enabled both organisations to enhance their engagement with young artists. This has been made possible by additional investment from Culture Ireland, alongside our own strategic funding from Arts Council England.
Over the next few days, the artists will experience world-class theatre and performances for young audiences, connect with international delegates to broaden their networks, and begin their relationships with us as we look forward to collaborating and co-creating with them and other organisations they meet this week, over the coming years.
Relationships are at the heart of Vital Spark, and today, a bunch of new ones begin! We’ll share our experiences of the sector, critically reflect on and respond to the work we see, ultimately aiming to elevate the quality and ambition of all our work.
It’s sure to be a good craic! 😉
Huge thank you to our partner organisations Attenborough Arts Centre and Lincoln Arts Centre for their support in delivering the Relationship Programme!
Meet the artists
The Vital Spark behind everything we do
We believe that all children should be able to experience arts and culture, and that they should be able to see themselves represented in these experiences. This is not yet the case for every child and we’re committed to changing that.
Our response is Vital Spark, and it's at the heart of everything we do. Vital Spark is about challenging and changing the lack of diversity in children’s arts and culture; it’s about diverse-led artistic decision making; it’s about not being afraid to stand up for what’s right.
We do this by supporting artists who are currently underrepresented in children’s arts and culture. We also work with partner organisations to create world-class opportunities for these artists and share best practice.
