BrUNIMA were out in full force at the Skipton International Puppet Symposium and Puppet Festival, connecting with artists, makers, and researchers from across the globe. It was a joy to share ideas, meet new collaborators, and celebrate the rich diversity of puppetry being made today.
Our special members’ screening of Mark Crane’s film was a huge success — sparking inspiring conversations and connections. And we were proud to support this year’s Puppet Place 48 Film Challenge, which brought together over 100 participants from across the globe to create impressive short puppet films in just 48 hours! The challenge saw everything from poetic stop-motion to hilarious live-action creations, with over 180,000 online views across posts and screenings — a true celebration of creativity, collaboration, and community. Congratulations to everyone who took part, and to their partners at Puppet Place, the British Puppet Guild, Broken Puppet Co., and We the Curious for making it all happen.
And now… the long-awaited Puppet Notebook is finally on its way!
After months of preparation, copies will be posted out very soon. To make sure yours arrives safely, please complete a quick form confirming your postal address and whether you’d like a printed or digital version.
👉 Complete the Notebook Form by 15 November 2025
Opting for the digital edition helps us reduce printing and postage costs, making BrUNIMA more sustainable and freeing up funds for future projects — like our online events, talks, and the Penny Francis Memorial Award, which supports emerging UK puppeteers to collaborate internationally.
We’re also introducing Give as You Live Online — a free and easy way to raise money for BrUNIMA every time you shop at over 6,000 stores. From groceries and travel to gifts and gadgets, each purchase generates a small donation for us — at no cost to you.
👉 Sign up for Give as You Live — it’s free, quick, and makes a real difference.
Your membership already supports our website, The Puppet Notebook, newsletter, and our contributions to UNIMA International and Puppeteers UK. Every bit of extra support helps us host and support events like the Mark Crane screening and Puppet Place 48 — strengthening our community of puppeteers across the UK and beyond.
In this issue:
🎭 Skipton & the Symposium
BrUNIMA event - Reimagining Judy: A Feminist Lens on Puppet Theatre
🌍 UNIMA International News
Members Spotlight
Let’s dive in 👇
BrUNIMA goes to Skipton Symposium and Puppet Fest
Cariad, Sean, Nenagh and Andy from British UNIMA attended the Skipton Symposium in October alongside various other UK puppetry organisations. The event was attended by around 100 - 200 puppeteers and puppetry-related people from around the UK.
The main remit for the event was to try and kickstart a reset of relationships and collaborations between UK puppetry organisations in order to create new possibilities for working together in the future. Apart from BrUNIMA, also represented were Puppeteers UK, the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, the Punch and Judy Fellowship and the Puppet Centre Trust. Representatives from all organisations gave an overview of the remit of their work and discussed challenges facing them (which included funding, insufficient volunteers and the lack of infrastructure and support in the UK). Contributions from the participants in the symposium were invited which led to interesting discussions about ways to move forward. The event also included a panel on international touring, touching also on the very difficult regulations following Brexit. This panel was appreciated by the attendees and more information requested.
The role of BrUNIMA in these discussions is to offer a window into international information, opportunities and events to better support and encourage British puppetry overseas. The weekend event also included a very interesting presentation by Curious School of Puppetry and a networking and planning event curated by Improbable Theatre as part of its Devoted and Disgruntled Series and supported by Nenagh Watson, you can read more about this event here. There were representatives from the Arts Council and Skipton Town Council which also enabled lively and supportive conversation.
The key takeaways from the Skipton event were as follow:
huge thirst for more meet ups and gatherings
the desire for the Arts Council to name puppetry as a specialist and supported art form
interest in more information on international touring
mentoring for new, young and experienced puppetry projects
an international network of hosts for puppeteers on tour.
British UNIMA will be discussing all of these things at our next monthly meeting and hopes to be able to activate and develop some of the proposals. Please note that all Members of BrUNIMA are also welcome to attend any of our monthly meetings, which take place between 17h and 18h30 on the second Thursday of each month. If you would like to join us and contribute to the discussions, please just email chair@unima.org.uk and we will send you the zoom link.
All good wishes
Cariad (for British UNIMA)
Next BrUNIMA Members’ Event
Reimagining Judy: A Feminist Lens on Puppet Theatre
🗓 Wednesday, 12 November 2025 | 🕢 19:30 GMT
💻 Online via Zoom | 🎟️ Members
Join Alissa Mello for an inspiring talk exploring The Judy Project — a feminist reimagining of the Punch & Judy tradition.
🔗 Zoom link available via the members’ portal.
More info and join
By joining these events, you’re directly supporting BrUNIMA’s talks, screenings, and artist bursaries — keeping our network thriving and our community growing.
Wimbledon College of Arts Postgraduate Performances
📅 4–5 November 2025 | 📍 Wimbledon College of Arts, London
🎟️ Free entry – booking required
The talented puppeteers who joined us at our AGM are hosting their fully realised works as part of the Postgraduate Performances 2025.
Expect imaginative, heartfelt pieces from MA Puppetry and Theatre-Making students.
Puppet Place Scratch Cabaret Fundraiser
📅 Fri 28 & Sat 29 November 2025 | 📍 Puppet Place, Bristol
🎟️ General £25 | Concessions £18 | Ages 14+
Back by popular demand! Two nights (plus a Saturday matinee) of puppet-based cabaret, walkabouts, and weird wonders — all compered by The Great Zucchini!
Funds raised will support essential upgrades to Puppet Place’s home at Albion Dockside Estate.
Puppet Place 48 – Watch the Films!
BrUNIMA were delighted to support this year’s Puppet 48 Challenge. The resulting shorts are now online — full of wild ideas and wonderful puppetry.
👏 Congratulations to everyone who took part!
👉 Watch the films
🎪 Festival Highlights & Open Calls
A quick roundup of upcoming opportunities across the puppetry world 👇
💶 EFFEA Residencies Grants €8,000–€15,000 | Deadline 3 Nov 2025
🎭 Novi Sad Theatre Festival 2026 📍 Serbia | Deadline 15 Nov 2025
📝 British UNIMA Notebook – Call for Articles Theme “Giant and Miniature” | Deadline 30 Nov 2025
🎭 Puppet Fair, Sofia 2026 📅 12–19 Sept 2026 | Deadline 30 Nov 2025 | Celebrating 80 years of Sofia Puppet Theatre.
🎭 Catapult Artist Intensive 📍 Chicago | Deadline 1 Dec 2025
🎭39th International Theatrical Festival “VALISE” | Deadline: 15 January 2026 - A Call to Theatres and Artists Worldwide
📝Curious School of Puppetry is helping to transform the former Colvestone Primary 👉 Sign the support form
Support the Penny Francis Fund
Penny Francis (1931–2023) was a tireless advocate for puppetry whose influence still inspires artists worldwide. The Penny Francis Memorial Award provides two annual £500 grants to support travel, collaboration and professional development for UK-based puppeteers.
To honour her life and contribution, British UNIMA is launching the Penny Francis Memorial Award — providing annual grants to UK-based puppeteers to develop their work internationally.
Each year, British UNIMA will award up to £1000 to one or more recipients for development activity to support activities such as:
Our goal: raise £5,000 by January 2026 to fund the next round of awards.
How You Can Help
Donate via PayPal — every pound goes directly to the award fund
Sign up for Give as You Live Online — shop at 6,000+ stores and raise funds for free
Share this campaign with other puppetry friends
UNIMA International updates
The General Secretary of UNIMA International is Fabrizio Montecchi, former puppetry director of the ground-breaking shadow theatre company based in Italy, Gioco Vita, and the President of UNIMA International is Louise Lapointe, director of the annual puppetry festival in Montreal, Canada.
They have a four-year plan for international UNIMA which includes the revitalisation of the Centres, a rewriting of UNIMA’s statutes and functioning regulations to make it more light on its feet and a development plan which includes deeper and more regular collaboration with related organisations, including Assitej, International Theatre Institute, IDEA, the Association for Theatre Critics and other bodies. It is hoped that these deeper collaborations will lead to shared projects and consequently more funding to further the goals of the organisation which are to promote, support and celebrate worldwide puppetry in the interests of a shared humanity, peace and culture.
👉 Read the full message
Call for Applications - AVIAMA 2026 GRANTS | Deadline 16 January
💬 Member Spotlight
We love sharing our members’ stories!
Tell us about your practice, projects, or inspirations — we’ll feature a new member in each issue and on the website.
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Share your news, projects, and opportunities with us for future newsletters:
📧 chair@unima.org.uk