Introduction

In collaboration with national centres and all commissions of UNIMA International, the Heritage Commission is dedicated to preserving, documenting, transmitting, and promoting puppetry heritage worldwide.

Objectives

• Establish and maintain collaborations with academic, cultural, artistic, and governmental institutions to identify, safeguard, and promote endangered puppetry practices, traditions, and artifacts, including contributing to their protection in emergency situations such as conflicts or natural disasters.
• Encourage the development of initiatives leading to the recognition of certain puppetry traditions on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
• Promote interdisciplinary research on the tangible and intangible dimensions of puppetry and their representation in other arts through publications, seminars, conferences, and exhibitions.
• Facilitate events, training programmes, and workshops to foster the exchange of knowledge and experience of puppetry heritage, and to ensure its transmission to new generations of artists, scholars, and communities.
• Catalogue and document puppetry traditions and related artistic expressions that are little-known or at risk, using digital tools and platforms to enhance access to this heritage and ensure its visibility.
• Collaborate with museums, libraries, and documentation centres to raise awareness of puppetry heritage collections and archives, and to promote their accessibility, digitisation, and preservation.
• Celebration and recognition of individuals and institutions that have dedicated their lives and work to puppetry and its heritage.

Programme and Activities

• UNIMA Directory of Puppet Museums and Documentation Centres.
• UNIMA Heritage Awards.
• Mapping Puppetry Heritage (In collaboration with Asia-Pacific Commission).