What is UNIMA?
UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette) is the international organisation of puppeteers, puppet makers, puppet writers, and puppet companies. They have branches all around the world, and is your best bet of finding out about local puppetry to you. As a member, there are benefits, such as regular events (festivals, workshops, etc), funding and professional development, regular publications, and other such things.
Non-members may also participate, whether it’s viewing shows at regular UNIMA festivals or other events; being able to browse and contact puppeteers when you’re looking for a service; learn the craft via subscriptions to publications or sponsored workshops; and so on.
UNIMA is pretty much the main organisation for puppetry. I have been a member of the Australian branch, and though I have not participated much in the organisation’s activities, I can say that the small annual fee (less than $AUD 100 for companies, less than $AUD 50 for individuals; but don’t quote me) has often been worth it. I have been kept up-to-date of grants and funding opportunities, puppetry events around the world, informed of performances to see, as well as had ample opportunities for meet and greets with other puppeteers.
UNIMA International runs a quadrennial (every four years) conference in a different part of the world each time: the next one, in 2012, will be taking place in China. More info about it is here. These conferences usually include an UNIMA AGM, or similar meeting, along with public events (workshops, performances, etc) and members’ events (masterclasses, forums, speeches, etc). I attended the last one, in Perth, Australia, which you can read about here.
If you are not a member, but are keen on becoming one, then check out your local branch. The UNIMA International website lists all the branches, as well as a lot of great puppetry links and information. (Note that the prices of membership may differ, depending on your location and branch)
This post AKA Australian puppet association
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@Con Quest
... School of Puppetry on Review: Avenue Q, Australian tourIf the "it's easier to train actors than puppeteers" argument were so ubiquitous, no one would hire trained anything. I'd imagine the likes of Judi Dench would be passed over for your average grandmother, simply because it's easier to train your grandmother than Judi. If the issue is time, then perhaps they should be scheduling more rehearsals - which they should have done anyway for this show with their untrained puppeteers.
I'm not actually against untrained actors. There are plenty of films and TV shows out there that are award-winning *and* happen to use untrained actors. However, there's a reason why it's not ubiquitous: the results can be overall mixed. You have to have excellent non-performers, and a naturalistic style of filming where it suits the less polished performances. Avenue Q doesn't suit that sort of direction. Even if it did, I found the performers to be totally unready. Which is less a fault of the suitability of choosing untrained actors and more a fault of a lack of quality over all. Even Dame Judi has her bad moments.