NVP/UNIMA
Nederlandse Vereniging voor het Poppenspel

Puppetry in the Netherlands, NVP / UNIMA and more…

The international councillors will be organized at the 55th anniversary of the NVP/UNIMA and at the 25th anniversary of the Internationaal Poppentheater Festival Dordrecht 20 – 27 June 2010.
The NVP, the Dutch Association for puppeteers, was founded in 1955.
Since 1982 the NVP also became known as the UNIMA-Centre in the Netherlands.


The Association does its utmost for puppetry in the broadest sense of the word, from the traditional puppet show to the most experimental puppet theatre for children as well as for adults. The members of the Association are puppet enthusiasts, amateurs and professionals, all interested in puppetry and puppetry activities, such as performances, workshops, education, lectures, research. Mostly the members are autonomous in organizing the activities. NVP-UNIMA supports by providing knowledge, experience and giving them a boost. The members of the Association – there are more than 250 members - assemble twice a year in order to meet each other and discuss association policy etc. We are now working on our policy plan for the period 2008 – 2011, with emphasis on a professional and growing association. In addition to these two annual meetings, puppet shows are organized, lectures are given and other meetings take place. The Association also organizes other activities across the country throughout the year. It has its own website, a magazine, and an extensive library.

Website:

The NVP-UNIMA has it own website: www.poppenspelers.nl On this website you can find information about the Association: the members, the board, the agenda and minutes of the meetings, performances, workshops, the library, education, news, the magazine WP (World of Puppetry) international UNIMA and the Dutch councillors. Here you can also find information about more than 30 theatres specializing in puppet-performances and the two museums in Vorchten and Blijham.

The magazine WP,‘World of Puppetry’

The magazine WP appears six times a year, and is free of charge for Association members. The editor works together with different contributors, while anyone can suggest copy for the next issue, it is the editor who decides on the contents of the magazine WP. Contact through our website www.poppenspelers.nl

Library

The NVP-UNIMA has an extensive library of more than 1,200 books in Haarlem, Brouwersvaart 70, 2013 RB, tel 023 5317713. This library can be visited any day by appointment. The Association is also busy preparing a video- library and making the catalogue accessible from the website.

Centre for Puppetry

The NVP/UNIMA supports the Foundation for Puppet theatre a collaboration between the Theatre Institute Amsterdam TIN, the Schielandhuis Rotterdam, the Foundation Puppetry Centre Dordrecht (SPC) and the Poppenspe(e)lmuseum Vorchten). In the near future there are plans to create a Centre for Puppet theatre to preserve the traditional heritage, to make the heritage accessible for the public, to offer a meeting place for everyone involved in puppetry and create an atmosphere for research, change and development.

Education

The NVP-UNIMA organizes a basic puppetry course and also a continuation of the basic course. Talented puppeteers can get support in creating a new production at ‘Feikes Huis’ (named in tribute to one of the oldest Dutch puppeteers still performing, Feike Boschma) www.Feikeshuis.nl In addition the NVP-UNIMA is exploring the possibility of a pilot course for puppetry-teachers in education. In conjunction with other groups, the NVP/UNIMA also organises workshops in areas such as vocal training, scriptwriting, making puppets, administration, publicity, etc.

Annual autumn tour:

There are three reasons for this annual tour of the small, permanent puppet theatres in The Netherlands. Firstly the tour introduces Dutch audience to small puppet theatres from other countries and in different languages, secondly it provides the puppet theatres with an opportunity to vary their normal programme, thus gaining extra publicity, and thirdly it publicises NVP/UNIMA to a general audience. In 2007 the Italian puppet theatre group Girovago e Rondella performed with “Mano Viva”. In 2008 the Belgian group Theatre Plansjet toured to 9 puppet theatres (2 in Belgium). In 2009 Artisjoktheater of Anke Scholz from Germany will perform her production 'I see, I see, what you don’t see' www.artisjoktheater.de

Contact

Further information about the NVP/UNIMA can be obtained from one of the Dutch councillors
Frans Hakkemars, Flevomeer 84 1423 ER Uithoorn, Holland, telefon: 0031(0)297566694
E-mail: franshakkemars@hetnet.nl