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✨ Promote members through Creative Spotlights Plus, you'll receive our monthly newsletter packed with creative opportunities, events, and resources.

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Puppets in Prague puppetsinprague.eu Choose from our wide range of top-quality long-term classes. With us you can turn your dreams into a reality, plus become a part of the ourishing Puppets in Prague community. Marionette Carving & Performance In-Person - August 2024 Automata: Online Course in 7 Modules - September 15, 2024 - April 28, 2025 Puppet Technology: Wooden Marionettes - September 2024 - March 2025

(Tainui: Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Mahuta; Te Arawa: Ngati Pikiao; and Pākeha: Webster Clan)

Ngā Tohu Hautūtanga Auaha Toi – Making a Difference Award

James Thornton Webster is of Māori and European descent who has practised as an artist for more than 30 years. He's based in Kapanga, Coromandel where he is the owner of Tahaa, Tāmoko Studio and Māori Arts. James is a multi-disciplinary artist, specialising in sculpture and working on carving (bone, stone and wood), painting, mixed-media creations and public artworks.

Studying under Dr Paakaariki Harrison and Professor Kereti Rautangata, James graduated with a Bachelor of Arts ‘Te Maunga Kura Toi’ (with excellence) in Whakairo Rakau (Māori wood carving) from Te Wananga o Aotearoa in 2005.

In addition to being a player and performer of taonga pūoro (Māori musical instruments) for the past fourteen years he has been involved in the revival of karetao (Māori puppetry).

🎥 Directed by: Pouria Nouri

🎭 Coming Soon

🌍 Celebrating the beauty of Iranian puppetry!

We invite research articles (4,000‒7,000 words) that explore the tradition, theory, practice, and even the avoidance of adapting classical works to the puppet stage.

• Access to UNIMA Aotearoa New Zealand and UNIMA Australia events and resources for 2025 🌏

• Invitations to exclusive speaker events with leading puppetry artists and practitioners 🎤

• Access to UNIMA International resources, including connections with the global puppetry community 🌐

• Opportunities and discounts to participate in workshops, festivals, and international residencies 🌟

• Support for your creative projects through our growing network of collaborators 🤝

• Be part of a vibrant community celebrating puppetry in Aotearoa and beyond! 🎭

  
  

In addition, your membership will help support the growth of our organization and covering administrative costs like registering as an incorporated society in Aotearoa/New Zealand 💼.

Together, we can connect, inspire, and elevate the art of puppetry.🎉

Join here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8yja_P6-Ipca4JBiUNCgkXbYlsjKglNTnh8-6-g4bmE4gAw/viewform

“A labor of love from filmmaker James Ashcroft, puppeteer Paul Lewis, and star actor John Lithgow, the titular prop drew on a slew of sources. The movie is based on a story by Owen Marshall, which was optioned by Ashcroft and his co-writer Eli Kent more than a decade ago, and it’s set inside a surprisingly treacherous nursing home in New Zealand...”

(Click link to continue reading)

Talia Pua is a theatre maker of Malaysian-Chinese heritage based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her theatre practice spans across acting, playwriting, set design, directing, and most recently, puppetry. She is a co-founder and artistic director of theatre company, Hand Pulled Collective. 

International Festival for Children’s Theatre „Igor Madzirov“ is announcing an open call for participation in the competitive programme of its fourth festival edition which is going to be held 15. – 18. October 2025, in Skopje, R. North Macedonia.

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2. Get Creative on Matariki at the Taupō Museum, Friday June 20th, $5pp Session 1: 10.30am-12.30pm, Session 2:1.30pm-4pm.

3. Tales from the Pā Harakeke Show & Workshop, Te Awamutu Little Theatre, Cnr and, Vaile Street Te Awamutu

Showtimes: 11am & 2pm

Workshop times: 12.15pm & 3.15pm

July Events TBC

📌16.8.2025 Te Awamutu, The Little theatre

📌21.9.2025 Putaruru, Timber museum

See you soon 🎶

🎭 AIO puppet ensemble

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEPhOEFz_yn/?igsh=aDg2ZmtzcXdpZzc5

I’m Chye-Ling, a theatre maker from Tāmaki and next week we open our new show called Let It Die.

It’s a strange, urgent, and darkly funny piece that mixes carved lumpy puppets, found-object design, and surreal storytelling to capture the bleak chaos and humour of being alive right now. I was super burned out on the funding app grind, and puppetry reminded me that magic and heart and creating worlds can be so achievable with so little. We decided to just go for it, and it's landed somewhere between waiting for Godot and Everything Everywhere all at Once.

The show is performed by an all-female cast, and features a team of wooden bunraku style puppets I carved with puppet maker Paul Lewis.

We have approx $0 marketing budget -- so if you can make it, bring a pal, and come say hi after! And if you can share it, thank you!!

🎟️ Pay-what-you-can tickets from $8, Sept 2-6 at Basement Theatre

✨ Thursday = Palestine Donation Night

👉 Book tickets here: https://basementtheatre.co.nz/whats-on/let-it-die

Māori puppets take on the world 

After their grandmother passes away, a child suspects they are being pursued by the smoke demon shapeshifter of the old woman’s stories. The Griegol is a dark fantasy in the vein of Spirited Away, for older children and adults. Drawing from the techniques of silent film, it utilises silhouettes, smoke, puppetry, live music, and live animation. With the operation kept in sight, audiences see both the stage effects and how they are made. Featuring puppets by Jon Coddington, and music by Tane Upjohn Beatson, The Griegol is a charming, moving, and wildly inventive work.

Recommended for ages 7+

Contains references to death and grief

 
“As savvy and powerful a piece of theatre as I have ever seen.” – Theatreview 

“Trick of the Light leave us feeling like we’ve witnessed some real life magic.” – Art Murmurs 

Hannah Playhouse, Wellington     7pm  Thu 23 - Sat 25 Oct 

Baycourt X Space, Tauranga        6pm  28 Oct 

Book tickets at

www.eventfinda.co.nz/tours-festivals/2025/the-griegol