Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival 2021

The environment

Our project didn't have any direct impact on the environment, but by presenting Luke Jerram's art installation Museum of the Moon in a public park as a free event everyone visiting this spectacular 7m replica of our moon had an engaging experience with their environment and a positive impact.

The local economy

Museum of the Moon attracted over 15000 people to the festival. Over 5 times more than ever before. We hope that this influx of people over the weekend from areas outside of Tunbridge Wells spent money in the local businesses (restaurants and shops). We had several different free events taking place in busy shopping areas and inside the local shopping centre so hopefully this encouraged spending.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We had 20 more volunteers for this project than on previous events. We were heavily dependent on their time as we had large numbers of people attending each event. Following the pandemic we felt that the local community wanted to get involved in our event if they could and as it was mostly outside it was considered a safe space. We contacted all the local schools and asked if students over 16 would like to be involved in the festival to obtain work experience in a variety of departments at the festival. 10 students from a variety of schools became volunteers over the weekend. Unfortunately due to COVID some work with schools couldn't take place but 3 schools attended the performance of Eli and the Golem and joined in a lively discussion about refugees after the performance. We also helped University students studying puppetry by running a competition for their work to be shown online in the festival. 8 projects were selected and 3 students came to the festival to present their work online to a live audience. Hopefully this experience will help with their future employment and we will keep in touch with them for potential performances in future festivals.

Arts, culture & heritage

We held performances in 10 different venues around Tunbridge Wells, hopefully introducing people to parts of Tunbridge Wells they weren't initially familiar with. We had 20 free events taking place across the town centre introducing the art form of puppetry to anyone who had not experienced it before. These shows included some Asian street theatre and a show about looking after our bees. Our centrepiece was Museum of the Moon which was accompanied with a soundscape of the first landing on the moon. As COVID has prevented us visiting schools last autumn, this spring we will be presenting our education workshops in schools raising awareness of the refugee crisis which linked with our production Eli and the Golem which 3 schools attended.

Activity, health and leisure

With 20 free events there was something for everyone to enjoy over the weekend. Using a public park as a venue we were promoting the use of outside space for exercise. The events took place from the top end of Tunbridge Wells to the bottom end and were programmed in a way that everyone could watch each event by walking from venue to venue. We collected hundreds of feedback forms from the public that expressed what a great time everyone had. We also ran a series of 6 free puppetry workshops with charity Mental Health Resources that helped young people attending their youth group for help with anxiety and loneliness.