Has puppetry become an academic subject? How can we ensure the development of the living art form

Members of the discussion were: Max, Charlotte, Jacqueline, Jack and Linda

Points noted

There seems to be a co-relation between how contemporary dance developed and what puppetry needs to do.
How do we do this?
It helps greatly having like minded people in the same room.
How do we make puppetry financially viable?
We need to make links with the commercial world.
Doing scratch performances with invited guests- people who can be investors and business people. We can present five minutes of really good work for them to see.
Puppetry will develop if we mix it with different genres eg dance, music, film.
Why not have performances and commissions in art galleries? This could be mutually beneficial.
We could have more artists in residency programmes eg one month long
We can look at puppetry as moving sculptures.
We can provide free school eg skill sharing opportunities
What we need is space to rehearse and create in.
We are not prepared to work for free any more.
We need more reviews on new puppetry. We need to get the media on side
We should use the web to spread the word eg the supper clubs that are sprouting up all over the place – all marketed by internet
WE need more pictures and visual essays
PCT should be able to offer tutorial- pop in times. – PCT does offer mentoring if requested.

At another group about the viability of a new company

We heard
We must ask ourselves what is really unique and special about puppetry?
It is very good at satire
It re-invents what normal people can’t do
When a puppet does an every day thing it makes the action heroic- so we re-invent the small things eg combing you hair
Puppetry can express the real life of animals and the life of the very young eg a 3 year old can be portrayed by a puppet eg dealing with divorce and child abuse.
In marketing our puppetry work we need to be very clear about the offer we are making.