It has been an amazing nine days here at Nottingham Puppet Festival 2026, and before we wrap up our strings and put away our rods, I’d like to take a moment to say some heartfelt thanks to everyone who has made this festival come alive. Firstly, to City Arts and the Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, to Suzannah Bedford, the Director at City Arts and Jonathan Saville the Program Director at the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall. Together they commission the festival, and I truly appreciate the creative freedom that they offer this event.
Next I would like to take a moment to thank the amazing network of partners who help build the festival program. Is this network that makes the festival so rich, this partnership of many eyes and interests that takes the idea of Puppets in so many different directions, whether that’s family work shows for grown-ups, programs specifically for schools, puppetry on screen or puppetry in new technology.
All of these different approaches give the festival a rich and multifaceted offer, so huge thanks to the teams at Broadway, the University of Nottingham Lakeside Arts Centre, the Squire performing Arts Centre at the Nottingham Girls High School, the Nottingham Playhouse, the Events Team at the City Council, Design for Stage and Screen at Nottingham Trent University, the Library Service and our many community partners.
We also want to extend many thanks to our funders who invested in all of this work and gave us the means to bring it alive. Our major funder is Arts Council England to whom we are hugely indebted. This year for the first time we have new partners who have come on board to support the event. Huge thanks to the It’s in Nottingham team, who specifically supported the development of the city Centre day, supporting it to become bigger and more vibrant. We also have the ChalleNGe arts and education partnership who supported the dedicated schools program at the Squire Performing Arts Centre.
Pulling all of this together into a coherent space, we have our Marketing and Design team, Kayleigh Page and Ruth Disney. Together, they make the festival come alive before anything has even happened, and we love how the festival brochures and online presence create the invitation to step into the magic!
Across the whole festival, we are nothing without all the artists and creatives who have shared their work, their skills, ideas and expertise. They bring their magic and creative curiosity to the work we share, at all scales from the smallest boat to the largest Mountain Hair. It is a delight to bring so much creativity into our city from across the UK and beyond.
And finally I’d like to thank you, our wonderful audiences and friends who come to see this quirky, funny, breathtaking, magical program, and share its joy and pleasure with everyone together in our city of Nottingham. Look forward to seeing you all at the next one!
The whole of the Nottingham puppet festival team would like to take this opportunity to thank Alison Denholm for her vision, expertise and dedication, that has brought this magical festival to life.