About the project and partners

The two-year project (2023–24) funded by Creative Europe Culture Strand promotes the art of contemporary puppetry and visual theatre and focuses on the borders of Northern and Southern Europe. Collaborating countries – Finland, Lithuania and Portugal – all have geographical challenges in exchanging knowledge, networks and touring, but have major potential in promoting the art form of puppetry for wider audiences.

IMPULSE! – New focus on Puppetry and Visual Theatre

• Showcases high-quality contemporary puppetry and visual theatre

• Extends and engages audiences for puppetry and visual theatre for adults

• Develops a sustainable international tour structure for puppet theatre and visual theatre performances and freelance professionals

• Creates networks, European-wide touring conditions and strengthens the conditions for art professionals’ employment

• Enables professional development with artistic and productional viewpoints

• Focuses on Europe’s geographical peripheries in the Northern and Southern Europe

At the core of IMPULSE! is supporting the creation and circulation of European works and artists. This will be achieved in two ways. Firstly, the project will investigate concrete touring network structures in the form of a touring pilot programme for the three festival partners. Secondly, the IMPULSE! project will develop and hone new practices for more ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable touring for puppetry and visual theatre through discussions in online seminars and in-person meetings. These findings will be published online and made available to all interested professionals in the performing arts field.

There is a clear need for more international collaboration both in terms of more touring and performing possibilities, as well as in the interest of exposing artists to new colleagues, ways of thinking and aesthetic concepts to push the field creatively further.

The project provides concrete tools and networks for organizations and artists to extend their activities across borders and to begin building a much wider-reaching network of creatively ambitious and internationally-minded actors.

Building professional and artistic capacity through international exchange