Where to find puppetry festivals in Australia?

There have been a number of new festivals created for 2012, so I thought it would be a good idea to rewrite this article as much of the info was outdated. Included below are two brand new Australian puppetry festivals which are set to be premiered in 2012.

Although puppetry is not well recognised in this country, there are festivals that specifically celebrate the craft. They are few and far between though, and most have fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons. The ones that do exist now are both for puppetry education/discussion (ie. for puppeteers, by puppeteers) and for the general public. (This post refers mainly to festivals; if you’re looking specifically for companies or puppet shows, check out this post instead/as well as)

Please note: the previous festival ‘One Van’ ceased to exist in 2010, when the artistic director resigned and the council had difficulty raising funds; a cabaret evening was to occur instead, however that never transpired either. The event no longer exists as far as I know; however, previous One Van founders have created ‘Tarrengower Puppetfest’… see below.

SA

• Puppet Palace, Adelaide. 24th Feb - 18th March 2012
  Taking part of the annual Adelaide Fringe Festival, Puppet Palace isn’t exactly a ‘by puppeteers, for puppeteers’ event, but a regular season of puppetry-specific performances aimed at encouraging audiences to see more of the craft. It has a children/family theme to it usually. Tickets are purchased separately as with all festival events. This is the closest thing we have to a regular puppetry festival.

VIC

• PuppetLab, Melbourne.
  Federation Square in tandem with ArtPlay present an annual (usually in July) event which is aimed at kids. This is the ‘leftovers’ from a 2006 stab at making an international puppetry festival in Melbourne [link to be added]. The adult performances were met with dwindling audiences, but the daytime workshops for kids seemed to take off. And so it continued in the form of PuppetLab. Workshops and performances can be found at this event; but very little for adults without kids.
• 4th National Puppetry & Animatronics Summit, Melbourne. 5-8 July 2012
  VCA is hosting the next summit; this event has been irregular, with the last being in … well, I don’t know. I can find references to the 2nd one, which was 2006. I have no idea when the 3rd one was (if you know, please leave a comment). I attended the 2002 summit and can say that is was highly worthwhile. This is as close as most Australians get to the regular UNIMA International congress (see more info here), in that it is usually a ‘puppeteers only’ event, inclusive of forum discussions, keynote speeches, masterclasses, international guests, films, and performances. If you attend one event all year, make it this one.
• Tarrengower Puppetfest, Maldon. 10-12 March 2012
  This festival has never been run before, so 2012 will judge whether or not it will be a success. The festival includes many performances from well-known puppeteers, as well as workshops. Tickets are purchased individually for each event.

Yeah, these are the total of the puppetry festivals in Australia; and note two of them are new! Other festivals in Australia do incorporate puppetry in their programmes, but usually as one-off community events (ie. within parades) or as part of their ‘folk festival’ feel. The above however, remain the ones solely devoted to a puppetry theme or event. Internationally, there are many other puppetry festivals, whether it is in Europe, Asia, South Africa, or America; there are ones that are far more regular and supported by their local puppetry communities. It is advised that if you’re desperate to attend workshops, performances or festivals on puppetry - especially as an adult - then you might as well travel overseas. The regular UNIMA International congress mentioned above is especially worth looking into. I’ve been to the 2008 one and it was very much worth the cost.

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