B-AIR Lab

B-AIR LAB 2023, lectures, round tables and seminars on the importance of art and imagination for children's essential development

Module of web lectures and seminars between January and April for creators, parents, educators, teachers and all those who are dealing with children from the earliest phase of their development. On the importance of music, creativity, listening, and storytelling.

In the scope of B-AIR Project, B-AIR LAB 2023 seminars will be accessible from this location every Tuesday from 17.00 to 18.30 CET from January 10th to the end of April 2023.

>> Link to the webinar.

Quality radio art for babies, musical as well as dramatic, leans on four core foundations: contemporary scientific understanding of the neuropsychological development of children, awareness of the importance of early relationships in the formation of a child's perception, the story as a constituent part of children's inner and outer experience, and the role played by sound and music in life. Within the project B-AIR, four modules of web seminars and lectures were designed featuring noted experts from all these fields. Researchers, creators, editors and teachers will unravel a broad palette of insight on the complexity of children's early development and good practice cases of artistic content that strengthens, motivates and guides development towards healthy and rewarding relations between adults and children.

The role of art and imagination in the early development of children – or what is brought to the development of the infant or baby by quality artistic content that strengthens the attachment and commitment between the child and their caretaker.

The purpose of the web seminars and lectures is to offer groundwork for contemplating how to design the sound environment so as to protect children in their earliest period from the oversaturation of the sonic world, the absence of connection it causes, and how to direct the attention of children and adults to those artistic contents that lead to a safe and emotionally rewarding relationship, helping the children build an emotionally balanced and stable inner experience. At the same time, it is to help parents engage with their children, connecting with them through the arts in a playful and relaxed way. As part of web seminars and lectures we will thus delve into stories, radio fairytales, puppet shows, music and musical creativity for and with children, entry of children into the world of music and the mission of creating for children, as well as its purpose and meaning.

The streaming of seminars and lectures in Slovenian language at MMC TV and the website of the project With after the webinars will be posted on the YouTube channel of project B-AIR and at the website of the project.

The series of web seminars and lectures will conclude with Radio Slovenia's public tender for new children's radio play scripts. The winning and any of the licensed entries will be recorded and broadcast by Radio Slovenia along with colleagues – editors, directors, dramaturgists, music score authors, sound engineers, composers and voice actors; in the second half of 2023 and in 2024.

The goal of the B-AIR LAB 2023 series of seminars and lectures is to integrate and encourage the exchange of knowledge and information on the importance of sound and storytelling – from cradle to senior age, thus contributing to new connections (including international ones), and above all obtaining an overview of the existing sound knowledge horizon, systematizing it for practical use.

The first lecture in the first module of web seminars and lectures has been by the established developmental psychologist prof. dr. Ljubica Marjanovič Umek, followed by lectures by developmental psychologist and psychotherapist doc. dr. Andreja Poljanec, and pediatrician and neurologist dr. Tina Bregant. Wrapping up the first module is a round table with Nataša Bucik (Ministry of Culture), Nada Požar Matijašič (Ministry of Education, Science, and Sport) and others, who discuss the contents and performances best suited for children, building the contextual bridge to the next module of web presentations focusing on artists and children's works creators. Experience and contemplation on art for babieshas been shared by the creatives Anja Štefan, Gaja Kos, Andrej Rozman Roza, Peter Svetina, Elena Volpi, editor of children's literature at the Mladinska Knjiga publishing house and family experiential gestalt therapist Irena Matko Lukan, editor of Ciciban magazine Nana Kisel, Slovenian language scholar and librarian Darja Lavrenčič Vrabec, academy trained violinist and music professor Vildana Repše, musicologist and music professor Katja Virant Iršič and others.

The series of web lectures and seminars is part of the three-year project B-AIR. It is a project where nine partner organizations from seven European countries, managed by Radio Slovenia, explore the role of sound in human development. The project B-AIR runs in close cooperation between artists and noted international experts in the fields of developmental psychology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, psychoacoustics, music therapy, music didactics etc. The goal of the project is to create sound arts for infants, babies and vulnerable groups. The project is financially supported by the European Union program Creative Europe.


Štirje sklopi spletnih predavanj in seminarjev B-AIR LAB 2023 med januarjem in aprilom 2023 za ustvarjalce, starše, vzgojitelje, učitelje in vse, ki se ukvarjajo z otroci od najzgodnejše faze njihovega razvoja o pomenu in potencialih ustvarjanja za najmlajše, pa tudi o vlogi estetske izkušnje pri oblikovanju zdravih socialnih odnosov.

V okviru projekta B-AIR: Zvočna umetnost za dojenčke, malčke in ranljive skupine, smo izvedli serijo spletnih predavanj in seminarjev B-AIR LAB 2023, ki so potekali vsak torek med 17.00 in 18.30 uro od 10. januarja do konca aprila 2023.

Music in our Brain

doc. dr. Tina Bregant

Quality Cultural and Arts Education – an essential part of children's daily life

MSc Martina Peštaj, MSc Nataša Bucik, Nada Požar Matijašič, Darja Štirn

You're an infant? Welcome to the theatre!

Sculptress, restorer and fine arts educator Mateja Ocepek and puppeteer Katja Povše

A wealth of musical and literary content for children

Example of good editorial practices at the magazines Ciciban and Cicido

Between Inspiration and Hard Work

Andrej Rozman Roza, Peter Svetina, Anja Štefan, Gaja Kos

Musical Arts for Children and Children in Musical Arts

Vildana Repše, academic musician, violinist and music teacher

Early music education

Willems' pedagogical proposal

The power of images and words

Tanja Komadina, art editor, and Irena Matko Lukan, children's literature editor

Composing for children

Musicologist and music editor Primož Trdan in dialogue with composers Larisa Vrhunc, Bojana Šaljić Podešva, Brane Zorman

Writing radio plays for children

With dramatist and editor Vilma Štritof

The stage of sound images

In conversation with Alen Jelen, editor of the radio's fiction program, directress Irena Glonar and sound designer Jure Culiberg

Children's radio plays as didactical means

With Klemen Markovčič, director and editor at the Radio Slovenia Fiction Program Editorial Office