NANATU Network of Finnish professionals on puppetry toasts World Puppetry Day on its online meeting on 21st March at 6 p.m. (UTC+2).

The nationwide network for puppet theatre professionals, qualified in practice, was founded in 2019 starting with Gary Freedman’s workshop in Kuopio, Finland. For its members, using puppet and object expression in their work, NANATU is a meeting point for peer support. To strengthen social cohesion, the network arranges regular online meetings, maintains databank of skills and materials, and organises internal workshops.

Since 2000, professionalism in the field of puppetry has been possible to gain through vocational qualification, accomplished in real production environments. It is possible to accomplish vocational examination in either puppetry education or puppet building. To complete this competence-based qualification, candidates must demonstrate certain skills and competence required in the profession. These skills are outlined in the Requirements of Competence-based Qualifications defined by the Finnish National Board of Education.