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Federation Square is proud to announce the results of its PuppetLab creative development initiative with funds made available to six artists. Projects are being supported for the creation of new site specific work by puppetry and visual theatre artists to be premiered as part of the 2008 Federation Square Puppet Carnival.

Fed Square is focusing on providing puppeteers and visual theatre artists with creative and professional development opportunities towards projects for the 2008 Puppet Carnival set to become a biennial event.

"We are excited by the range and quality of projects offered and are looking forward to the developed work being included in next year's Carnival," Kate Brennan CEO of Fed Square said.

"We are dedicated to supporting the development of new work by Victorian puppeteers and visual theatre artists and sought Expressions of Interest from individuals, groups and organisations for the development of  new innovative works that push the boundaries of the art form to be premiered during the Federation Square 2008 Puppet Carnival," she said.

A total of 17 applications were received and six were selected for funding totalling $30,000. The calibre of applications was extremely high and competitive.

Recipients of the 2007 Fed Square PuppetLab Creative Development Initiative are:

Katy Bowman • The Cupboard
The Cupboard is an immersive performance installation that combines unconventional and conventional visual theatre and puppetry with movement based performance to explore the realms of secrets, fears and fantasy and identity using a cupboard and its imagined contents as a starting point for imagery and action as a metaphor for our interior lives.

Hamish Fletcher / Oblivion Art • Reliquary
Reliquary is a collaborative dance/puppetry project between choreographers Soo Yeun You and Gina Rings with puppeteer Hamish Fletcher. The work explores Korean Shamanism and Australian Indigenous spirituality. Innovative design and puppet realisation will support an intimate cultural exchange in movement.

APA / Blood Policy • Computer Boy
Computer Boy will fuse new media, puppetry and intricate set design to create a new visual theatre work which tells the story of a child with a screen for a face. Replacing the 'Raised by Wolves' with 'Raised by Tech', this work will explore the character of a child in contemporary society and his increasingly intimate relationship with screen technology and gaming.

Lizz Lethlean /Light Designs • Note to Self
Note To Self is a child centred exploration of an adult concept: what it is to create an original work. This is a performance based project, combining the disciplines of puppetry, music and circus, where kids aged 9 years and above will work alongside adult artists who are specialists in their field.

Joseph O'Farrell / The Suitcase Royale • TBC
An intimate performance installation that utilises Super 8 film and a live score based on the themes of space travel, sci- fi adventure and alternate histories…

Emma Pryse/ Dancing Dragon Puppet Theatre • River Stories
River stories is a synthesis of large scale, internally lit, roving puppet imagery and intimate shadow puppets. Shadow puppets depict the Wurrundjerri River story and other creation myths and survival stories which illustrate the centrality of the importance of water in our lives lived on the banks of the Yarra River Today.

Workshop Program
June 30 - July 7 2007 Federation Square and ArtPlay will present a school holiday workshop program as part of PuppetLab to engage children and their families in puppetry as an art form.

Visit www.fedsquare.com for details