Unima South Africa | The International Union of Puppetry South Africa

Active Puppets

Active Puppets: training and development Visual performance is growing in popularity and impact in South Africa. Puppetry is a powerful tool for social development and is under utilised in South Africa, partly because of a lack of skills in this area. Active Puppets is one of UNIMA SA’s training and development initiatives that aims to address this problem. Active...

Out The Box

Out The Box: Festival of Puppetry and Visual Performance Out The Box is the largest puppetry and visual performance festival in Africa, catering to both adults and children over a ten-day period, with shows running throughout the day and every evening. Out The Box pushes the boundaries of puppetry and visual performance, building bridges between artistic and cultural...

Moving Things

Moving Things: Puppetry in film and stop motion The Puppetry in Film Portfolio has a focus of creating interest in puppetry in film by providing the platform to showcase films that use puppets or the style of stop-frame animation. Our aim is also to encourage experimentation with these forms of filmmaking, by providing skills training with experienced facilitators and...

Creative Exchange

The UNIMA SA Creative Exchange is an initiative that aims to give professional and emerging artists the opportunity to : Interact Experiment Collaborate Grow Perform This is done through 3 Programmes: Iqonga Playshops Exchange Sessions Iqonga: Iqonga happens every year at the Out The Box Festival of Puppetry and Visual Performance. Artists are invited to submit...

Circle of Love: schools pro...

Circle of Love: schools program Circle of Love is UNIMA SA’s school project .The project aims to build community, address spatial integration and harness diversity; and uses puppetry, visual theatre and storytelling in order to help young people develop leadership skills, confidence and social awareness through creativity. Following on the great success of its launching...

About

UNIMA SA, the South African association of Puppetry and Visual performance, works to develop South African puppetry through encouraging the exposure of SA puppeteers to international trends and the development of local skills.

Mission

The mission of UNIMA SA is to promote the art of puppetry and visual performance in professional, youth, and children’s theatre, entertainment, education and development.

The Team

The UNIMA SA management team is made up of artists and individuals dedicated to promoting and developing South African puppetry and visual performance as well as to generating new cultural and social relationships through the arts. We believe in creativity as an access to self expression and in empowering people through play, product and inspiration.