For the 6th consecutive year, the International Association of Puppet Friendly Cities launched its mobility grant scheme.
The Jury of the AVIAMA – Puppets and Mobility Grant was chaired by the City of Plzen (Czech Republic), represented by Mr. Jakub Hora, and composed of representatives of the City of Minami Awaji (Japan), the Borough of Outremont (Montreal – Canada), the City of Tournefeuille (France) and the City of Tolosa (Spain), whose involvement we would like to thank.
Selection criteria
This international Jury is the guarantor of the orientations chosen by the member Cities of AVIAMA: to support the mobility of the artists and the innovative projects which thanks to the puppet bring answers in terms of valorisation of the cultural heritage, of educational projects or of social integration. The members of the jury have thus put forward certain selection criteria:
- The desire to help young companies or artists in their artistic process and their professionalization.
- Projects directly linked to the network of AVIAMA cities, thus allowing artists to develop their contacts.
- Projects that reflect the diversity of the puppetry arts, and that highlight solidarity, the sharing of know-how, ecology, education and the place given to women in our society.
Selected projects
AVIAMA received some high-quality applications for the Puppets and Mobility Grant, representing a diversity of countries, an aspect that is very important to us. The winners will each receive a grant of €2,000, a significant amount that allows us to help ambitious and professional projects, also serving as a lever to obtain other grants:
- Pro-Vocation : Roots and Wings led by Janni Younge (South Africa) / Support for the organisation of three weeks of international meetings (including training, conferences and masterclasses) and a festival in Cape Town (South Africa) focusing on the development of the puppetry arts and international cooperation.
- Puppets for reconciliation supported by Eraste Mandera (Burundi) / Mobility support for a research project on puppetry and the preservation of Burundian culture, with a focus on transmitting it to a European audience, notably in Charleville-Mézières (France) via small-format shows.
- Kids and Puppets supported by Blanka Josephova (Czech Republic/Burundi) / Mobility support for the creation of a reproducible puppet show for nursery school children and their parents in Bubanza (Burundi), in line with their needs and to support collective creation.
- Toolbox training course run by the Odradek company (France) / Mobility support for an exchange project and study trip to the Spanish Basque Country (Topic centre in Tolosa and the Dantzerti drama school in Bilbao), with the aim of professionalising young puppeteers and promoting international cooperation.
Among these, encouragement is given to two candidates who have begun in-depth work and have been awarded a grant for the second year.
We wish the grant holders every success with their project and, on behalf of the Jury, thank all the candidates who applied this year!
The next Call for AVIAMA 2025 Scholarships will be published in October.
