In 2008, UNIMA, the international organisation for puppeteers, held their regular Congress. Lasting 10 days, the Congress is a ‘by puppeteers, for puppeteers’ festival, which included a number of events for the public as well. The 2008 Congress was held in Perth, Australia. I attended and blogged my experiences, which included workshops, shows, forums, exhibitions and keynote speakers.

For ease of navigation around my blog, I give you an itinerary (one wasn’t posted originally).

• Winning a travel grant
• Day 1: Arrival
• Day 2: Bunraku building & BBQ
• Day 3: More bunraku and Z is for Giraffe
• Day 4: More bunraku
• Day 5: Last of the bunraku, Cross cultural forum and Diva
• Day 6: Carnival Day, Flea Circus, and Chiryu Karakuri
• Day 7: Visual Narrative workshop, Shadow Puppets workshop and Explosion Therapy
• Day 8: Sightseeing, Animating Spark forum and Puppet Sports
• Day 9: Neville Tranter workshop, Petr Matasek keynote speech, POFA intro and Sleeping Beauty
• Day 10: World of Paper workshop
• Day 11: Solo Journeys forum, Mechanics Alive exhibition, The Arrival, and Fatal Attraction
• Day 12: Last minute shows, Bradshaw’s Shadows and Angel
• Day 13: Leaving, Congress highlights, show rankings

Related: The showcase of the bunraku head, which I couldn’t finish until I got home • Pics & video of The Arrival, posted after the fact • Photos of the trip