Newcastle Puppetry Festival 2026 update

The Bad News (good news below!): Against all of our best efforts as a tiny team, we have been unable to secure Arts Council England funding to be able to make the 2026 Newcastle Puppetry Festival go ahead. We wish to say a huge thank you to the 250+ artists who took the time to apply, especially the shortlisted artists who have held the dates for close to a year. Also a big thank you to our venue and community partners, and other funders, for backing the 2026 festival proposal. The journey does not end here though - we will try again next year.

The Good News: Thanks to funding from other supporters, we will still be able to deliver an Easter Holiday programme of activities between 4th-12th April. This will include:

• The first ever Moving Parts Puppet Film Fest at Tyneside Cinema

• A week of puppet making workshops for adults (soon to be announced)

• 12 x free 'A Treasury of Tyneside Tales' performances with a giant crankie on Great North Museum's lawn

• A 9-day community art installation called Wind Garden, also on the Great North Museum's lawn

• A community exhibition of 100 crankies made in workshops throughout the year inside Great North Museum

• A community exhibition of Teeny Tiny Toon workshops, which 500+ local residents have taken part in over the past year.

More details coming very soon!