For Puppetry,
Collaborative Arts
& Creative Health
Provisions
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Founders of
Hello!
Welcome to Broken Puppet Collaborative Arts!
(AKA Broken Puppet Theatre Company)
** Please excuse us while we are gradually evolving our company branding - we're still here, still doing our thing...we just wanted to refresh our website so that it better reflects our current status as a kind of 'oddball-hybrid-company' and update it to include all the amazing things we've been working on lately, but it's going to take us some time!
As a group of professional creative practitioners now working across multiple - and magical! - realms found somewhere outside of the boxes labelled 'artists collective', 'theatre company' and 'creative health practitioners' we felt a new era was upon us, so we are in the process of transitioning towards our new identity...'Broken Puppet Collaborative'!
What's New...
 Check out our new Blogs |  TIPA at Bristol 48 |
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 Puppetry Workshops |  New Creative Quests |
 Spirits Of The Sea |  TIPA is here! |
How we work
Each of our activities is linked to it's own branch of our creative programming model, The 5 Elements - click the Rune Stones to sneak behind the scenes and discover what's happening in each of our 5 fantasy production realms, or if you'd like to explore how we combine them all to create our 'CHAOS' Element Projects, Check out the 'Creative Programmes' section from the main menu.
Visit the friendly
Realm of
Kin
Visit the Healing
Realm of
Earth
Visit the inventive Realm of
Water
Visit the adventurous Realm of
Air
Visit the Dynamic Realm of
Fire
About Our Artists & Their Portfolios
Our core team members, collaborators, emerging and associate artists can all opt-in to our professional development portfolio builder and earn 'rune stones' for every project they are a part of here at Broken Puppet - so as the company's portfolio develops, their individual portfolio's grow too.
It's our way of ensuring we acknowledge and appreciate the many contributions made by everyone who becomes part of our organisation, and it's an effective way to see how our team are collecting new skills, experience and qualifications - but it's also just a fun, artistic way to help us keep track of all the project's we've done so far too!
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That's why you'll see a collection of Rune Stones alongside our biographies and profile pages. Some Stones will even link to a write-up, blog, gallery or video clips featuring more information on the project that we did to collect it, so keep an eye out for these special runes as you explore this website - they look like this:
KIN/
COMMUNITY
PROJECT
RUNE STONE
EARTH/
FOUNDATION
PROJECT
RUNE STONE
WATER/
KINETICS
PROJECT
RUNE STONE
AIR/
INFLUENCE
PROJECT
RUNE STONE
FIRE/
TRANSFORM
PROJECT
RUNE STONE
CHAOS/
CREATIVE
PRODUCTION
RUNE STONE
INTRODUCING 'THE SIXTH REALM':
CREATIVE/CHAOS
Broken Puppet is a continually evolving theatre company that adapts and responds readily to the needs and interests of its participants, artists, creatives, and the wider community. We are able to do this because we understand where the real magic of what we do happens:
and that's right here...
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You see, the magic of puppetry, collaborative arts and creative health doesn't all happen here - it happens wherever YOU are, wherever WE are, and especially, wherever we bring EVERYONE together - and we've been proudly proving it through our inclusive creative practices since 2010!
That's why our 'Sixth Realm' is special, and why it's not quite the same as the other '5 Elements' of what we do. We proudly call it the Realm of Chaos, and essentially, it's our favourite place be, because it's where all the creative and social activities within the 5 Elements programmes we run can combine, collide and collaborate to create and produce the very best kind of magic: PUPPETRY!
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Puppetry - or, more specifically Applied Puppetry - is easily one of the most effective and engaging ways to explore, express and escape the world we live in; just, not necessarily in that order. That's why we like to invite the bests kinds of collisions and collaborations to happen between all of our creative communities. If you'd like to break down some barriers with us, or join us in the realm of Chaos, please get in touch!
ABOUT THE CHAOS/CREATIVE PRODUCTION RUNE STONE
Our team collect Chaos rune stones for every creative production project they work on, and get to add it to their portfolio.
You will see these rune symbols scattered throughout this website too - Some of them may even reveal more information about the creative team, the production processes they used, performance photos and video clips for you (if you ask them nicely!)
BE PART OF IT ALL BY JOINING
THE INCLUSIVE PUPPETRY ALLIANCE
The Inclusive Puppetry Alliance was founded by our Creative Director, Clare, and our collaborative partners, including the 2020-22 cohort of emerging artists with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and is here for everyone who wants to be part of our creative production programme, as long as they are willing to make their very best efforts to become as inclusion friendly as possible, at a professional level.
TIPA's programming is uniquely designed so that all of our creatives and project participants can work collaboratively to produce their puppetry projects on a level playing field - regardless of their qualifications, experience or disability status - put simply, we treat everyone as if they are a professional artist and collaborator, and not as if they are 'community participants'. (Because we already have workshops that offer accessible participatory experiences).
It's our way of deliberately subverting - and actively challenging - the divisive culture we have all experienced when acknowledging to the professional creative sector that we are 'disabled' practitioners. The immediate responses to our being open and transparent about our illnesses and disabilities too often lead to us being categorised as 'community participants' or 'beneficiaries', and rarely being seen as the qualified, capable and professional creative practitioners that we really are. This is something we will keep working to challenge within our sector, and TIPA is just one of the ways we've devised to invite everyone to be part of that effort in a proactive, creatively engaging - and hopefully productive - way.
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Put simply, we want to break down the barriers that disabled artists and practitioners face when entering our profession, and we know that this needs to happen simultaneously on all fronts; starting with the very first interactions people have with the puppetry arts, and continuing all the way from that first workshop they join or performance they see, right the way through to them having access to training, education, professional development and ultimately, if it's what they want to do, a paid and fulfilling career in puppetry or related arts. & health settings.