2004 World Puppetry Congress and Festival

text by Marianne Tucker, former President of UNIMA-USA
photos by Ian McMahan
It was an exciting summer for some of us this year. Thanks to the help of Jane Henson, four representatives of UNIMA-USA were able to attend the 2004 World Puppetry Congress and Festival in Opatija and Rijeka, Croatia. The councilors and alternates were Tom Tucker, Mary Kowall, Bart Roccoberton and me, Marianne Tucker. The board and officers of UNIMA-USA felt it was important that there be four people there to represent the USA, rather than one with proxy votes for the others.

It was a sacrifice on everyone's part, but the experience was worth the effort. We were greeted warmly, by all the other councilors and friends were asked for. During the meetings Tom, Mary and Bart shared a table with Simon Wong of China while I took a seat near the front to take the minutes with Laura Verdonk, the secretary of UNIMA. The first gift I received was from the Iranian councilor. Everyone worked hard, attended all the meetings, paid attention and volunteered to do some of the mundane jobs that must be done during a meeting such as this.

After the meetings we were bused into Rijeka for the performances. The festival was organized such that the councilors could get to all the shows, with tickets included in our welcome packets. We were able to enjoy our fellow councilors at dinner in Rijeka, and Tom and I spent evenings with people from all over the world. It was great fun to see the groups walking in the restaurant area; Germans, Poles, Frenchman and Americans at one table, Iranians, Americans, Canadians, and Australians at another. Most people spoke English so there was no problem getting around or communicating.

Bart summed up the experience well in the following excerpt from a letter he sent:

"I carry back hugs, cheek kisses and well wishes for you all from Australia (Richard, Margaret & Philip Mitchell), Austria, Belgium (Ronnie & Millie), Canada (Jacques Trudeau, Louise LaPointe and Wendy Passmore), China (Simon Wong), Croatia (Livija Kroflin), Czech (Stanislav Doubrava), Denmark (Hans Hartvich-Madsenda), England (Penny), France (Massimo & Margaretta), Germany (Annette Dabs & Hartmut Topf), Holland, Hungary (Geza), India (Dadi), Iran (Behrouz), Italy (Alberto Bagno), Japan (The whole contingent as one voice), Norway (Mona Wiig), Poland (Marek Waszkiel & Waldek), Russia, Slovakia (Ida Hledikova), Slovenia (Edie Majaron & Robert Waltl), Sweden, Switzerland and even Spain (Miguel and Idoya).

The U.S. Delegation (Marianne Tucker, Tom Tucker, Mary Kowal and myself) did a terrific job as representatives, diplomats and politicians. We constantly talked, shared ideas, developed strategies and participated (which sometimes meant standing back) as the Congress went on. …

As I said at the start, the U.S. Delegation did terrific work. You can be proud of us. As the Festival was closing a Scandinavian women came to me and said, “I have been both fearful and angry with the Americans. But this week, I could feel your warmth. You all smiled, presented good ideas and were helpful at every moment. I am very happy to know you!”

Bart was elected to the Executive Committee of UNIMA. There is a new president: Massimo Schuster, and Miguel Arreche will continue as General Secretary. Go to http://unima.org to see a list of the new members of the Executive Committee.

There is also a new Commission (committee), the North American Commission. It is headed by Jacques Trudeau, from Canada. Tom and I, Manuel Moran, Karen Larsen, Louisa La Pointe (Canada) and Wendy Passmore (Canada) have all indicated interest in working on this commission.

Dues to UNIMA, which are included in our dues structure for UNIMA-USA, were discussed and will be reevaluated before the next congress. The World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts is being worked on and Steve Abrams is the North America Editor. The next world festival will be in 2008 in Perth, Australia. This looks like it will be a well organized festival.