Meet Holly – Puppeteer, Maker & BrUNIMA Secretary and Digital Comms
From Building Puppets to Building Community
Holly is BrUNIMA’s Secretary and the person behind much of our digital communications, from newsletters, Social Media to the newly refreshed website. Since joining the team, she’s helped grow our reach significantly, with newsletter readership tripling and Instagram followers rising from 300 to over 1,500 in just three months. (Thank you for reading and sharing!)
But behind the numbers is a maker with a deep love for the art.
With a background in theatre, puppetry, and creative communications, Holly’s career spans stage, screen (a few idents) and workshop. After studying Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth, she trained in Animatronics and Special Effects Make-up at MUD in Los Angeles and completed a degree in Modelmaking for Design and Media at the Arts University Bournemouth. Alongside these, she gained hands-on experience across departments at Bournemouth International Centre, including ticketing, front of house, sales and stage door, made and performed walkaround puppets at Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival.
Below you can view a trailer for The Tempest at Salisbury International Arts Festival. One of many marketing projects Holly worked on.
She went on to lead creative campaigns for UK arts organisations including Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival. As part of the team that merged all three to become Wiltshire Creative, Holly brought together her skills in design, storytelling and audience engagement, a career highlight and testament to her collaborative ethos.
Creative Work
A few photos of Holly’s work on and off stage show the range of her involvement, from marketing and props for Living Spit’s Frankenstein, and the puppets made for various panto’s and productions at Salisbury Playhouse, to performances such as Longer Wetter Faster Better live art exhibition, London, and The Nose. Whether performing, designing or promoting, her passion for the art is clear.
Now based in France, Holly continues to create storytelling projects through puppetry while supporting BrUNIMA’s mission to raise the profile of the artform. Holly also runs hollylikespuppets.co.uk, a personal platform for puppetry workshop reviews, learning resources and eventually a space to share her own creative work. While not linked to her professional marketing work, she’s always happy to connect. If you’re looking for advice or support, feel free to get in touch: hollylikespuppets@gmail.com
Below you can view a trailer of a panto holly made puppets for at Salisbury Playhouse, for Dick Whittington and his cat.
Why Get Involved with BrUNIMA?
Puppetry is a unique and powerful artform, and it’s more important than ever that our community comes together to support and advocate for its future. BrUNIMA offers a welcoming, supportive space for puppetry professionals and enthusiasts to connect, collaborate and share ideas.
Holly values community and collaboration, and welcomes fellow creatives to get in touch, whether for puppet-making advice, help with communications or simply to connect. The more we support each other, the stronger the community becomes.
TOP TIP: Don’t hesitate to reach out to others in the industry, even if you feel unsure. The puppetry community is incredibly generous, and there are always opportunities to collaborate, learn and grow.
📩 Contact Holly: hollylikespuppets@gmail.com
🔗 Website: hollylikespuppets.co.uk
📸 Instagram: @hollylikespuppets
