Making Worlds - The Creation Myth Puppets Handbook

Creation Myth puppets are an arts-based charity, based in Devon, who provide incredible puppetry experiences for whole-school and local communities. Every year, we work with many hundreds of children to make puppets inspired by world creation myths. In these ambitious projects, every child makes a puppet and every puppet is performed in an epic and spectacular final show at the end of the residency. Every child, regardless of race, gender, neurodiversity or economic background is given the same chance to bond and thrive through the joy of this creative process, and school communities are strengthened by the experiences. It really has to be seen to be believed! Take a peek at one of our videos to see what we do:

Our Project to Make an amazing new Resource Book...

For a good three years now, Artistic Director Tony Gee and Core Artist Charlie Narewski Scullion have been regularly discussing the creation of a full-colour illustrated handbook that combines all of the company's regular world creation myths with step-by-step illustrated guides on how to make the puppets. To that end, when we have had a little spare time, we have made a start on creating the book, and the results so far are stunning!

Why are we wanting to finish the book now?

Tony Gee, the founder and director of the charity, has been working in this field for over 35 years and is now in the process of beginning to retire at which point he will pass on the company's roles to the core artist team who have learned and colloborated together for several years. As part of this process, we feel the time is right to finish this handbook as a legacy of the amazing work the charity has developed. Here are a few sample pages below:

The book will have multiple uses for many audiences. It will function as a handy craft guide for families to make their own puppets, and a wonderful compendium of amazing world creation stories to share at bedtime. For artists, the book will be a window into our company and philosophy and the process of carrying out this unique work with children. For schools, it is a valuable resource for creating puppets and shows and for learning about world cultures. It will be a visual feast with something for everyone to enjoy.

Why We Need Your Help:

Creation Myth Puppets keeps its prices for schools and communties as low as possible and often subsidises schools in order that all economic backgrounds can access what we do. However, our material costs for the work we do are high and the paying of professional artists to conduct residencies of a week or more takes up a large portion of the company's annual budget. There is normally little left over for additional time-consuming projects, such as creating this book with full-colour illustrations throughout.

We need your help to help fund the creation of the rest of the book - 80 pages, each of them an artwork in themselves. Not only will you be funding the writing and illustration, but the graphic design (layout) and production (publishing/printing).

In return for you generous donation, we will send you one (or more) of the first copies of our finished book! 

Thank you so much for joining us on this journey. There is no company which does what Creation Myth Puppets does - the scale and reach of the work is hard to imagine without seeing it for yourself, but our feedback consistently shows that we make a huge difference to children's lives. And the book of our company will be no exception, totally unique, an epic imagining! We can't wait to show it to you!

Our Story and Vision:

Creation Myth Puppets (Charity No 1157652), led by Artistic Director Tony Gee, is built upon 30 years of providing over 40,000 children with the means to make spectacular shows while exploring stories from diverse cultures. Here’s how it happened:

About thirty years ago Tony had a peculiar daydream. It went something like this. He imagined half a dozen puppeteers running simultaneous workshops to set the world record for the Biggest Puppet Show on Earth. And so, over 200 people of all ages in 7 coordinated workshops created a show called The Guests of Chance, performed on the same day to another 200 people. It was magnificent. So magnificent that Tony started to dream about how this format could be transferred to schools….

So it happened that before long a school asked Tony if he could make a big show with 150 children that was based on an African story of his choice. Tony chose a West African Creation Myth: the story of Nyame the sky god who loved to create; of the sky spirits who lived in his tummy; and the reason why each child is different, beautiful and unique. As the children created and performed their show across a week, they transformed into visible shining orbs, so happy with what they had done. There was deep magic at play and Tony set out to try and understand that magic and harness it.

The years passed. Many shows, many schools, many stories. Many interactions with different cultures and ways of knowing, from artist gatherings to tipi meetings of native Americans, to International Congresses, to the Royal College of Arts. And Tony began to wonder: how could this particular magic be best sustained beyond his own working life? Twenty years after that first appearance of Nyame in Tony’s world, another group in a Richmond school created and performed the story anew to their parents. The parents were so moved that they donated money for other schools to have the same experience. And with this impetus, Creation Myth Puppets Charity began with a simple vision: to spread the magic of imaginative hands-on creativity to more children, so that they also can exceed their expectations and make quality pieces of theatre – theatre that is authentically theirs.

With puppets anything is possible”  - Alex, Age 8.

WEBSITE: http://www.creationmythpuppets.co.uk/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/CreationMythPuppets

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/myth_puppets

EMAIL: [email protected]