UNIMA Netherlands - NVP UNIMA – Unima - Union Internationale de la Marionnette

Date of creation: 1955

Gilzeweg 37, 4861 AS CHAAM, NL
Netherlands

+31 (0)6 28451132

info@nvp-unima.nl

Presentation

NVP-UNIMA – Puppetry in and from The Netherlands and Flandres

NVP-UNIMA = Nederlandse Vereniging voor het Poppenspel – UNIMA Centrum Nederland

(in English: Dutch Association for Puppetry – UNIMA Centre Netherlands).

Brief history
The NVP (Nederlandse Vereniging voor het Poppenspel, Netherlands Association for Puppetry) was founded in 1955. In 1982, the NVP became the UNIMA Centre of the Netherlands. It works hard to promote puppets, from the traditional hand puppet show to the most experimental. The members of the association are puppet lovers, both amateurs and professionals. In addition to regular meetings, performances and lectures are organized. NVP-UNIMA also organizes other activities throughout the country and has its own magazine, De wereld van het poppenspel (The World of Puppetry), and an extensive library. The logo shows five fingers of a puppeteer’s hand, which in the language of deaf people signifies “I love you.”

General information about NVP-UNIMA

NVP-UNIMA has about 300 members, all the work is done by volunteers. It’s mission is to get puppeteers (amateurs and professional actors), theater programmers, museums, libraries, education teachers and (of course) spectators excited about puppet, figure and object theater. At the same time NVP-UNIMA draws attention to all performances given by amateurs and professionals any-where in the Netherlands, all workshops, all research and special projects like Dutch cultural heritage as well as the use of puppets in education or applied puppetry.

Activities

Annually, four network or inspirational meetings and special feature arrangements around festivals, a visit to an atelier or a museum are organized. Since 2019 regional meetings in the North, South, West and Centre of the Netherlands take place to stimulate intervision of puppeteers regionally. Also, every two months, there is an online NVP Cafe and a NVP Filmhuis (movie night). Special focus is on the Summer Seminars (multiple day seminars) that have been organized since 2015 by professional puppeteers. These experts offer master classes or educational workshops at Festivals as well.

Awards

NVP-UNIMA hands out two prestigious bi-annual awards:

Wim Meilink Award: an oeuvre award (in 2024 awarded to Duda Paiva) and

Ruth van der Steenhoven Award: an incentive for upcoming talent (in 2024 awarded to Yalan Lips of Theater Kwikstaart).

An honorary pin is awarded to persons/organisations for extraordinary work in Dutch puppetry.

Library of NVP-UNIMA

NVP-UNIMA owns an extensive library of more than 1,500 books. The library catalogue has been digitalized and can be downloaded at our website.

UNIMA Councillors

NVP-UNIMA has four UNIMA councillors. The current councillors are: Anne Dronkers, (Commission Professional Training), Cat Smits, Matt Jackson and Steven Luca Groenen.

General information on puppetry in the Netherlands and Flandres

There are about 15 residential puppet theatres and 500 puppet theatre companies (about 10 % of which are professional).

As there is no UNIMA centre in Belgium, many of the Dutch speaking puppeteers in Belgium have joined the NVP-UNIMA. Almost 10% of our members are located in Flandres (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium).

Puppet collections, documentation, cultural heritage

There are also puppet collections in the libraries of several Dutch Universities and cultural heritage museums.

Education and support

NVP-UNIMA supervises two training courses at Het Haags Theaterhuis (The Hague) that enables participants to educate oneself in puppet and object theatre. Other education is offered by the Jan Klaassen Academie (Jan Klaassen is the Dutch version of Polichinelle, Kasperl, Punch, Petroucka and all the others).

The regional meetings organized by NVP-UNIMA also serve as education and support for puppeteers.

Festivals

There are several international Puppetry Festivals in the Netherlands and Flandres:

Puppet International, at Meppel, bi-annual, 14 – 18 October 2026
International Micro Festival, at Dordrecht, annual, 19 – 21 September 2025
Poppen in het Park, at Amersfoort, annual, 6 and 7 September 2025
Queering Puppets Festival, at Amsterdam, annual March/April
Podvis, at Antwerp, annual early January
OerfOerf, also at Antwerp, annual, late December
Puppetbuskers Festival at Gent, annual, in September

Other festivals where puppets make their appearance are: Vertelfestival Roermond, Oerol, De Betovering, Straatfestival (strtfstvl), Stiltefestival, Sprookjesfestival. Puppetry is also programmed at a lot of other theatre festivals.