Date of creation: October 29th, 1979
c/o Cordula Nossek
Julius-Raabstraße 17/2
2345
BRUNN AM GEBIRGE
Austria
+43 676 355 91 54
Presentation
Brief history
Austria was a founding member of UNIMA in 1929.
The UNIMA Austria center was founded in 1968 as representative of UNIMA International by a group of keen and enthusiastic people, eager to promote puppet theatre and to serve the special needs of its members. In 1979 it was registered as an association, which in 2014 celebrates its 35th birthday.
Over the years our Center has thrived and grown, hoping to make puppet theatre a well-established theatre form in Austria. Membership and registration numbers have increased yearly, with special services offered to its members. They are regularly kept informed with newsletters, brochures and literary works. The work of the Center is done on a voluntary basis, thus illustrating the dedication of the members across Austria.
Important projects and achievements
For many years, UNIMA Austria has been closely connected to the International Puppet Festival in Mistelbach, “Internationale Puppentheatertage”, which it has organized together with the municipality of Mistelbach since 1979.
In 2012, the artistic directors of several Austrian puppet theatre festivals founded a common platform, in order to enhance the inter-connection of the puppet theatre scene in Austria. During the general meeting of UNIMA Austria in 2012, some of the platform members were selected to be part of the UNIMA Board, which expanded the function of UNIMA Austria to a bigger network of Austrian puppeteers and festivals.
For many years, a whole slew of annual festivals has been taking place all over Austria: Figurentheaterfestival ? Wels, Puppentheatertage ? Mistelbach, IF! Women’s Puppet Theatre Festival ? Vienna, Fantasima ? Lienz, SommerTraumHafen ? Wies, homunculus ? Hohenems, PannOpticum ? Neusiedl, See (biennial, 2014), La Strada ? Graz, Cikl Cakl ? St. Michael ob Bleiburg, ÖPC ? Stockerau.
With all these festivals, UNIMA Austria is developing partnerships in order to enable reduced entry prices for its members, to reach a better international and national network of the puppet theatre scene and to promote puppet theatre as an important and serious art form.