The 2024 Nottingham Puppet Festival is produced by the Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall and City Arts (Nottingham). The festival takes puppetry of every kind to all corners of the city. It includes shows, workshops, talks, exhibitions and processions. 2024 is the third Nottingham Puppet Festival.
City Arts’ contribution is focused on community outreach, artist development and a day long programme of free, accessible puppetry in Nottingham city centre.
Community Tours
To ensure the festival reaches a wide range of people from Nottingham diverse communities, City Arts is touring shows to community venues. Aimed at children aged 6 months to 4 years, The Search for Teddy Island and Charlie Comet and the Magic in the Attic are visiting local libraries. For older audiences, Stephen Mottram’s marionette show EGGBIRD is touring to community centres.
Promotional materials are targeted directly towards local residents.
Puppet Maker Commission
City Arts and the festival are commissioning a brand-new walkabout puppet, designed and created in collaboration with Nottingham communities. These include Cantrell Primary School pupils, the Nottingham Rebels Theatre Group, and people who access the Hubb Neighbourhood Centre in Sneinton.
Artist’s Bursaries
The festival is awarding bursaries to East Midlands artists to support them to realise a project. Their projects could be small or large scale, street puppetry or studio based, verbal or non-verbal, object theatre or craft based. The outcome could be a performance, a walkabout, a Q&A session, an exhibition or something else.
City Centre Spectacle
On Saturday 13 April, the festival takes over the city centre streets for a day of amazing puppet performances and parades. It features puppets both big and small. Audiences can enjoy Mahogany Carnival Design’s spectacular costumes, watch Inspirate’s Ancient Giants in a battle between good and evil, experience beautiful storytelling at the Central Library, and get close up to By Our Hands’ handcrafted marionettes.
Project Team
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Meander Theatre
Bursary Recipient Visit Meander Theatre's website -
Bryony McCombie Smith
Bursary Recipient Visit Bryony McCombie Smith's website -
Liz Johnson
Bursary Recipient Visit Liz Johnson's website
