I met Valerie Bistany (pictured right) in Dunne & Crescenzi’s one morning to find out about her role as coordinator of the Flip Flop International Children’s Festival, which is being held from Sunday 19th October to Sunday 26th October 2008 this year.

Valerie has lived in the Sandymount area since 1991, having previously lived in Lebanon, the UK and Buffalo, New York, where she was Promotions Administrator for the Kavinoky Theatre.

Valerie is a very talented and accomplished individual, who is making great contributions to her chosen community. She has a young son in a local school who already shares her love of theatre and is looking forward to the festival.

She has an impressive background in theatre, from stage management to acting to directing, from arts administration and promotion to the evaluation of arts projects. For five years she was general manager of the Dublin Youth Theatre, and recently the Independent Evaluator for The Ark’s Artist-in-Residence Programme.

The value of mentoring for artists is very important for Valerie, and she was Co-founder/ Director of the Mentoring Development Project (MDP), an action research pilot programme on arts mentoring commissioned by An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Dublin City Council.

She was also facilitator/ mentor for diploma graduates of the Smashing Times drama workshop facilitation course, to help bring them into the next steps of using their new skills in a community context.

Last year was the first festival of children’s theatre. It was felt that it wasn’t just a question of audiences, but that theatre for children was an art form in itself. While the Youth Theatre serves 14 to 18 year olds, and there are about 80 youth theatres in the country, there is often little in theatre for the preschoolers and under-12s in general.

The vision of the festival is not just about presenting theatre to children, but enabling them to participate as well. It is hoped that in future years, some children might come to workshops building up to the festival, with the idea that these school-related groups would produce a 5 or 10 minute performance themselves in the Pavilion.

“Children’s theatre can be just as exciting and good for family members as adult theatre. There is also a great pleasure for adults in watching your children enjoy themselves at performances,” Valerie emphasized.

The idea for the festival was proposed by Martin Murphy, Director of the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire, to the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC), who came on board enthusiastically to support it. Many people don’t realize that the Pavilion is the municipal theatre of DLRCC, with a remit to serve the local area.

Valerie was hired to pull it all together last August. The Festival was a great success, and she was hired again this year to coordinate an even more extensive festival of children’s plays and workshops, to be held in an increased number of venues around the county, including the Mill Theatre in Dundrum and a number of public libraries (See article on the festival for details).

The festival links in with schools in the area, sending them out materials in advance, particularly for the various workshops held in the libraries. Another local connection with the ‘NewsFour’ area is that St. Matthew’s School also participates in the festival.

In fact, their drama teacher, Orla Maher, will be running a workshop this year, one in each of 5 libraries for 3 to 6 year olds, called ‘The Story Hunt’, in which a book thief has stolen all of the words from the books, and using clues and characters given by the Story Queen, the children are invited to act out their own stories.

Another interesting element of the festival is the Children’s Fiction Slam, in which unpublished authors of children’s writing are invited to read their work publicly, with feedback from judges. Last year, 12 new writers took part, and a good response is expected this year, too.

Another interest of Valerie’s is the question of conflict resolution and restorative justice, organizing mediation and communication between victims and offenders. She trained in this area, undertaking the Glencree Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking Certificate Course. She is a founder member of the Restorative Justice Group, Facing Forward.

Valerie Bistany is clearly a person of many talents who never shies away from a challenge. She is involved in many projects. She attributes some of her success in so many areas to the ability to break large goals down into manageable tasks, and having the self-confidence to take on what people ask you to do.

Through her freelance work and voluntary commitments, she should be considered a vital local asset.

The Flip Flop International Children’s Festival
takes place from Sunday 19th to Sunday 26th
October in the Pavilion Theatre, Marine Road,
Dun Laoghaire and the Mill Theatre, Dundrum.
Booking and information at 2312929
www.pavilion theatre.ie