LA MAISON DES MARIONETTES CHARLEVILLE MEZIERS

UNIMA (''Union Internationale de la Marionnette'' – International Puppetry Association) is an international non-governmental organization that brings together puppeteers and puppet enthusiasts to develop and promote the art of

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

. It was founded in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 1929 (the then Czechoslovak magazine

Loutkář ''Loutkář'' ("The Puppeteer") is a Czech Republic, Czech theatre magazine providing information about the Czech, Slovakia, Slovak and world puppet theatre. History and profile Established in 1912, ''Loutkář'' is the oldest specialist Puppet t ...

was UNIMA's first official journal in years 1929–1930). In 1981, the French puppeteer Jacques Félix moved UNIMA's headquarters to Charleville-Mézières, France, location of the ''Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes'' since 1972. UNIMA is affiliated to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and it is a member of the International Theatre Institute. UNIMA is affiliated with the International Theatre Institute and is present in 87 countries. Its headquarters is located in Charleville-Mézières.

History

UNIMA was founded on May 20, 1929, in

, during the 5th Congress of Czech Puppeteers, upon the proposal of French writer Paul Jeanne. The Czech magazine ''

'' served as its official journal from 1929 to 1930. The last UNIMA congress before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

took place in 1933 in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

. After the war, UNIMA was revived in 1957 by the Czechoslovaks during the European Puppet Week in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

(then in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

). Jan Malík, who had been its Secretary-General before the war, led discussions to revive the association. A congress was held the same year in Prague, with 17 countries represented (from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, in the context of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

), establishing statutes that ensured equal representation of countries from the West and the East in the presidium. In the 1970s, the association modernized: the presidium became the executive committee, and UNIMA moved its headquarters from Prague to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, where it remained for eight years. The headquarters was then established in Charleville-Mézières, known for its World Festival of Puppet Theatre, and where the International Puppet Institute and the

École nationale supérieure des arts de la marionnette École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

later settled.

National centers

There are National centers throughout the world, which include: * UNIMA-USA founded by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

in 1966. In 1992 the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta became the headquarters for UNIMA-USA * UNIMA Australia * UNIMA Pakistan * British UNIMA * UNIMA France - THEMAA
UNIMA Spain
* Mobarak UNIMA (UNIMA Iran)

UNIMA World Congresses

World congresses have been held in: * 1929:

(Presidency:

Jindřich Veselý Jindřich Veselý (15 June 1885 – 19 September 1939) was a Czechs, Czech pedagogue, publicist, historian on the field of puppetry and author of puppet theatre plays. Early life and education Veselý was born in Bavorov to a family of a pedagogu ...

) * 1929:

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

* 1930:

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

* 1933:

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

(New presidency: Josef Skupa) (New General Secretary: Jan Malík) * 1957: Prague (New presidency: Max Jacob) * 1958:

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

* 1960:

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

* 1962:

* 1966:

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

* 1969: Prague (New presidency: Jan Bussell) * 1972: Charleville-Mézières (New General Secretary: ) * 1976:

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(New presidency: Sergej Obrazcov) * 1980:

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

(New General Secretary: Jacques Felix) * 1984:

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

(New presidency: Henryk Jurkowski) * 1988:

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

* 1992: Ljubljana (New presidency: Sirppa Sivori-Asp) * 1996:

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

* 2000:

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

(New presidency: Margareta Niculescu) * 2004:

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

(New presidency: Massimo Schuster) (New General Secretary: Miguel Arreche) * 2008:

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

(New presidency: Dadi Pudumjee) (New General Secretary: Jacques Trudeau) * 2012:

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

* 2016: Tolosa * 2020:

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

: Holds non-face-to-face online a year later because of COVID-19 * 2025: To be held in

Chuncheon Chuncheon (; ; literally ''spring river''), formerly romanized as Ch'unch'ŏn, is the capital of Gangwon Province, South Korea. The city lies in the north of the country, located in a basin formed by the Soyang River and Han River (Korea), Han R ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Puppetry organizations International cultural organizations Arts organizations established in 1922

History

National centers

UNIMA World Congresses

See also

References

External links