European Puppet Ministry Festival 2011

I can't quite believe I went to my first puppet festival 15 years ago - and have been to one every year of my life ever since!

This year One Way UK's EPMF was held in Derby and Reading and I was fortunate enough to be invited to teach at both festivals. I was running workshops on a variety of subjects including puppetry for YouTube and a range of basic and advanced puppetry techniques.

I love visiting or working at puppet festivals as there is always so much creativity around the place which always help to accelerate my own creative process for my own projects. These festival was no different, but they were tiring too! It's tough teaching classes all day, I think across the two events 500 puppeteers attended, which is cool. After the second festival a bunch of us went out for a post-festival feast and hilarity ensued!

EPMF - Festival report

So I promised a EPMF report a short while ago. Today is the day it has arrived! I have been helping to lead workshops at the EPMF for just over 10 years now, so it's become a old favourite of mine over the years. Below you can see me (in black with the red shirted puppet) leading a workshop at the Reading leg of the festival.

One of the great things about going to puppet festivals is meeting old friends and fellow puppeteers. Debra Fader (seen here with Vernon the Wolf) is a very talented puppeteer and puppet builder. Debra is based in Maine (USA) so it's more of an effort for her to attend then most... but Debra has become a favourite workshop leader and her classes are always packed.

Below is a picture for old times sake... This is me pictured with Harry Barret owner of One Way UK. When I first left college I worked full time with Harry for just over a year.

Something new for the EPMF 08 was the Puppet Academy Team. This was a new concept for 08, the team met applied online (one the One Way UK site) and met for 1 week in August. Then after that one week prep time they had to perform at both the EPMF festivals. Considering they only had one weeks preparation time they did really well. If this sounds like the sort of project you would like to be part of you can apply to be in the Puppet Academy 09 team online now.

Take care - Dave

Puppet Festival Update

So the very first EPMF in Derby happened this weekend just past. It was a great time with about 150-200 puppeteers coming together to learn, compete and perform. I was teaching workshops on both the Friday and the Saturday, as well as judging some of the competitions so it was quite a tiring weekend... but it was fun! The venue was Derby Community Church which is almost opposite Pride Park, the home of Derby County Football Club. It was a lovely ground which looks to be very well kept and relatively new.
It was a positive weekend with lots of interest in the puppets that I took, and I am hoping to follow that up with some commissions and sales in the weeks and months ahead. I am looking forward to this weekend in Reading for the second installment of this EPMF double header... it's gonna be good.

If you're going - i'll see you there!
Take care - Dave

European Puppet Ministry Festival

It's that time of year again!

That's right people One Way UK are hosting their annual European Puppet Ministry Festival in Reading (England). It's a great opportunity for puppeteers to get together and share ideas, learn and also watch some great performances. As the name of the event suggests the majority of the puppeteers who attend are Church based, or sympathetic to Christian puppetry. However the festival is by no means exclusive and other performers can and do come along to join in the activities.

This year however there is a twist - there is not just one festival as there has been over the past 15 or so years... for the first time ever One Way UK are running back to back weekends! One in Derby and the other in Reading. This should help more people from Scotland and the north of England to be able to come and join in. If you are coming, be sure to let me know and i'll keep an eye out for you.

I'm going to be leading workshops at both weekends and I'm excited to see what will happen. I'll try and get some good pics to show those of you who can't make it.
Take care - Dave

I-Fest Inspiration, the final roundup!

OK so for those of you who didn’t go to I-Fest… or don’t have any intention of going I appreciate my last 5 blogs will have been of little interest to you. However I think the basic topics of the blogs could be applied to any puppet festival. For instance for the last two years I have been to the May Fayre (the celebration of Mr Punch’s birthday) in Covent Garden. I have been inspired and excited by puppets I have seen there… also I have met people who have inspired me and in some cases revolutionised the way I build and perform my puppets. So don’t get too hung up on the festival, look at the principals.

If I were to list my inspirations I may not be able to finish this blog post this week… so I will give you some potted highlights.
Dave and June Privett run Playsoup. They are both fantastic performers and Dave is a very talented puppet builder! Simply if you haven’t checked out there work you need to!
Todd and Amie Leibenow are the new owners of One Way Street. Todd is a great performer and he also voices many of the pre-recorded scripts released by OWS.
David Simpich wasn’t at I-Fest this year… but I have been fortunate enough to see him perform a couple of times. He is a marionette artist, and an exceptional one at that. It’s great to see someone filling theatres with an “out of favour” form of puppetry. I hope to see him perform again soon.
Christy Watkins (POWER Company) was the Dream Team director the first year I was on the Dream Team. She is a great puppet Director who adds a professional touch to any show. Christy retired from directing the POWER Company this year (the team that taught Todd Leibenow) but she plans to continue teaching at regional festivals in the US and hopefully the UK to.
I think it’s important that whoever you are and whatever you achieve you still look around you and allow yourself to get inspired by other artists and performers. I look forward to meeting more inspiring individuals in the weeks and months ahead!

Take care – Dave

I-Fest report 2

OK - yes I realise that there has been a long wait for this... what can I say? I've been kinda busy.

Right where were we?

So at the beginning of July I posted a blog from I-Fest, I can't honestly say if this was me writing up my workshop notes or me blogging... but this is certainly me on the computer at I-Fest! During the week I was working as a Conference Assistant and a workshop leader. I have lead lots of workshops in the UK and quite a few around Europe as well but I had never taught in the USA before and for some reason I found myself to be very nervous. I think this was because I-Fest has played a huge part in my puppetry career and many of the "defining moments" I can think of in my puppetry experience all happened there.

I am pleased to report that the workshops went a lot better than I had expected them to go. By the end of the week the "Getting to grips with Arm Rods" class I lead went so well I would rank it alongside some of my best ever workshops... which was nice. This pic shows me mid flow in the workshop ...it was really fun. I had prepared this workshop just for I-Fest and actually turned out so well it will be a workshop that I will teach more often.

For some reason when I first said I went to I-Fest some people emailed me saying "but aren't you English?" ...Well yes I am, but my wife and I travelled out to Chicago specially for it. BUT if you are in the UK or Europe and you would like to be part of something similar to I-Fest with great puppetry teaching and lots of resources available I recommend you make an effort to get to the European Puppet Ministry Festivals in either Reading or Derby this year! I will be teaching at both and we are expecting to have a great time. Check One Way UK's website for details.

Take care - Dave

EPMF contd.

I must apologise for not posting more regularly on here, I have been a little under the weather over the past week. However feeling a lot better now i will show you a couple more photos and share some more about the EPMF. Sadly i can't share many more pictures with you for the simple fact i forgot to take more! I tend to do this when i enjoy myself... perhaps the numbers of photos i take is inversely proportional to the amount of fun I'm having?

Anyway this first (fairly terrible quality picture) is of one of my favourite performers of all time. It is Judy Buch. Judy Buch is an award winning ventriloquist and all round brilliant performer. She has an amazing ability to bring her puppet characters to life. She is a master of a wide variety of ventriloquist techniques. I am no expert on these techniques myself, but i have seen many ventriloquists in my time and she stands head and shoulders above most i have seen. I took the liberty of pinching a better photo of Judy off her web site so you can see a good photo of what she looks like. The character she is posing with is "Daisy", my wife's favourite puppet character. I think ventriloquists can be received by audiences like clowns and magicians sometimes... you either love them or hate them. I think it's one of those skills that when done badly it is very bad, but when done when it is breathtaking - just like magic. Judy is definitely one of the best vent acts I've ever seen.

This second photo shows the main auditorium. It is a fairly bizarre experience to get a group of puppeteers together... but to get 600 together is very strange. I have been fortunate enough to perform and lead workshops at the EPMF for the past 10 years. I remember vividly leading my first ever workshop aged 16. It was about performing with puppets on the streets (something i did a lot at the time). I love the festival atmosphere, the buzz of excitement surrounding the competitions and the rush to get to "that" workshop you've been looking forward to. I have started thinking already what workshops and performances i could offer next year. If you're going... I'll see you there!

All the best
Dave

EPMF 2007

For those that don't know the EPMF (European Puppet Ministry Festival) is an annual Puppet Festival which happens in Reading, Berkshire. It's run by a company called One Way UK and is aimed at people who use puppets in the context of a Sunday school or school assemblies by and large - although not exclusively. It is an opportunity to network and attend workshops to help you improve your puppetry techniques and show. This year 600 people registered for the weekend... it was a lot of fun.

As this was the 15th annual puppet festival we were pleased to have a few special guests. Dale VonSeggen is the founder of One Way Street. Dale has played a significant role in my life as a puppeteer so it was great to meet up with him again. Dale with the help of Harry Barrett enabled me to take part in the puppetry Dream Team at I-Fest in 1998 and 1999. This was a great time of learning for me and it really stretched me as a performer.

Another American visitor who attended the festival this weekend was Debra Fader. Debra was the Dream Team director the second year I was on the team. Debra is a great director and puppet builder. She has a real talent for choreography and her workshops rightly attracted a lot of attention.

I enjoyed being back involved with the festival crowd, it's been a while since I was involved regularly with One Way UK - about 5 years to try and put a number on it.

Thanks for reading - all the best

Dave

Preperations

It's just after 8.30 am and myself and Shelley are making our last minute preparations for the EPMF this weekend. I didn't get to be until 2am and i was up this morning at about 6.30am. Last night i took the opportunity to make sure i had got all the puppets and props i would need for my workshops, this morning i remembered we may need to pack clothes for the weekend as well :)

I will take my camera so i will post pictures up on here as soon as i am back home. I am looking forward to meeting Dale VonSeggen again, i haven't seen him for about 6 years but he was a key character in my getting serious about puppetry.

In life generally the mood is subdued at the moment. Spurs seem to have sacked Martin Jol last night. I know our results have been poor so far this season, but i think he should be given more of a chance as we have had two of our best seasons since the 60s under his leadership! (brief football reference for those who are wondering).

Have a great weekend folks, all the best.

Dave