Participants in a pioneering project taking place in the lead up to the highly anticipated re-opening of Aberdeen’s historic Music Hall had the chance to reflect today as His Majesty’s Theatre hosted an exhibition showcasing their most recent term’s activities.
The Music Hall Babies project was launched in March and since then the babies, who were all born in December 2017, along with their carers have been taking part in a tailor made programme of arts events and activities in music, dance, drama and visual arts led by Aberdeen Performing Arts and companies like Citymoves, Scottish Dance Theatre and Live Music Now.
This term, with the babies now reaching eight months, sessions focussed on sensory experience, allowing the babies to explore new sights, sounds, feels and tastes.
Photographs taken at the sessions were on display at His Majesty’s Theatre this week.
This latest block of sessions were co-ordinated by Lindsay Dawson from Aberdeen City Council’s Creative Learning team. Named the Geronimo programme, participants worked with early years artists, and sessions focussed on low resource, affordable, recyclable and sensory activities, which are safe to children and which parents can easily recreate at home.
The children were encouraged to explore and develop the parent/child bond whilst interacting with other babies.
Aberdeen Performing Arts creative learning manager Lisa Mathieson said: “We are now halfway through our Music Hall Babies programme so it seems like a fitting time to reflect and celebrate what we have been doing. It’s such an exciting time for the babies as they start to explore a lot more on their own, and this latest theme has been about focussing on that. Photographer Vhairi Walker has been documenting the sessions, and the results have formed the exhibition.”
The Music Hall Babies programme aims to give babies and their families a positive experience of the arts from birth, develop their creative potential, and help develop child/parent bonds and cognitive development.