Looking for a Monster brought back to life

I really don't believe in coincidence. Why? You might well ask? Many of you might know that much of the last decade I have spent in the research and development of a extraordinary puppetry project, based on the life of a thirteen-year old poet in Czechoslovakia. This talented boy wrote a puppet play, while interned in a concentration camp during the Second World War.

To cut a long story short, we have finally developed the project into a school-based educational program. This we are piloting in two Sydney schools starting tomorrow. Yesterday while surfing the post-Royal Wedding comments on Face Book, I stumbled across an article about Holocaust Remembrance Day which I discovered just happens to fall on Monday 2 May 2011 - the very day we launch the new project.

Our project gives an insight into the clandestine children's magazine, Vedem (In the Lead) published by the young boys in room L417 of the children's home in Terezin between 1942 to 1944. Sixty years on, we are bringing this work to life in Australian schools, not as a Holocaust story, but as a universal story highlighting the themes of empathy, multi-cultural tolerance and the use of the Arts to change the world.

Looking for a Monster website has just been re-launched. There are some films posted in the column on the right under Looking for a Monster Films. For more information about the project, take a look here!
Photo: Alex Weltlinger

Puppetry in Singapore

Our next SE Asia Creativity and Innovation Workshop tour will launch in early March in Malaysia and Singapore. Gary Friedman and Sharon Gelber travel internationally facilitating workshops, incorporating storytelling, puppetry, movement and improvisation. The objectives are to encourage and enhance team building, innovative thinking, creative problem solving and risk taking.

This short film provides a taste of their recent work at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, working with students, faculty, administration staff and business entrepreneurs.  The predominant purpose of the workshops are to use puppetry to challenge inhibition, and establish a 'safe' environment for opening communication and unleashing untapped innovative potential.

Puppetry performance using the medium of brown paper and every-day objects provides the opportunity to explore all modes of communication, demanding teamwork of a very profound and intense nature. Story telling enhances group empathy and opens up a level of frank open connection, which is unique and liberating in academic and business circles.

Humour is used throughout to put participants at ease and open the doors of communication for the sharing of opinions, as well as ‘safe’ and constructive self-analysis and group critique.  Participants are provided with the forum to uncover their own talents, see the strength of team members, work with members of their own faculty as well as other faculties to discuss and explore issues that are significant to them in their work and personal lives.

If you are interested to read the latest NTU evaluation report on this international work, just drop me an email here!

Back in Australia from an Asian Adventure

My apologies for not keeping you all updated on our SE Asia Tour during the past six weeks. It was just a really hectic time and especially traveling with a twenty-month old and doing 'Paper and Puppetry' workshops throughout Malaysia and Singapore, followed by a two-week break in Bali, which was great, despite the fact that I fell in the rain in the last week and fractured my spine. It was a really memorable tour and I believe it opened up the Asian market to our Creativity work.

The highlight of the workshops was our two-week stint at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU). Our topic was ‘Demystifying Creativity and Moving beyond the expected, and into a space of novelty and uncharted territory in every aspect of life’.  Our brief was to carry out a pilot programme of study in the use of puppetry to break down barriers that currently exist: thus overcoming inhibition and establishing a 'safe' environment for unleashing innovative potential.

During the NTU season, we worked with Administration staff of NTU Ventures, a department which offers assistance to business start-ups in Singapore. We also had a two-day workshop with the Entrepreneurs of these start-up companies. (See the short video above!) We held a workshop for the Faculty of the university, where we worked with professors and lecturers from Engineering, Business School, Education, Humanities & Social Sciences and Arts. Even the Associate Provost of the university attended. The final workshop was the only arts-related one for stop-frame animation students. You can view a slide show of each workshop by clicking on the name links!

The evaluation outcomes of the workshops were extremely positive. One of the comments from the  faculty of education stated: "The workshop reminded me of the importance of communication and team work – critical in a big organization and in the area of education. It was also a humbling experience (there are so many creative colleagues around me!) It was a comfortable platform for me to meet people of other nationalities and from other schools within NTU. I also took comfort that creativity need not be in the form of a patent for a product which the engineers produce, but that we teacher educators are also being creative as we teach and prepare teachers for the next generation (abstract and not so measurable). My greatest take-away would be the reminder to celebrate life and humanity. I will make sure I pass this passion and compassion on to our student teachers."

We look forward to continuing our creativity work in Asia early next year. Watch this space!

One-day Puppetry Workshop in Melbourne

I am very excited to announce that  Learning-Movement consultant & OT, Sharon Gelber and I will be conducting a one day 'World of Paper' Raw Creativity Workshop in Melbourne on Saturday 16 October from 9am to 5pm.

The workshop will take movement and story telling to the most elaborate ends. Our work using paper puppetry is designed to activate the brain, tantalize the senses to enable creative thought and performance at your peak ability.  This workshop is ideal for teachers, university students, professionals, therapists, creatives and lion tamers.  Places are $150 (all inclusive) and limited so if you are keen to join us, call The Book Affair now to reserve your place: 03-9347.3542   Look forward to having you join us for a wild day!

Last chance to participate in October Creativity Workshop in Sydney

Click on the poster for all the workshop details or check out my previous post here!
Book now, only a few places left.

One-Day Paper Puppetry Workshop in Sydney

We have has so many requests to conduct our 'World of Paper' workshop in Sydney, that we've decided to do one before we leave on our SE Asia Tour in October. We are happy to offer you a workshop to catalyze your next creative breakthrough.... explode into a space of free flowing ideas and expanded vision! bring you an exhilarating experience into creativity and performance. Activate your brain and tantalize your senses to think and perform at your peak ability. 

This one-day workshop will take place on Sunday 10 October 2010 from 10am to 5pm (with a one-hour lunch break). The cost of the workshop is $150-  (including materials, tea and snacks). To book, please email me ASAP, as we have limited places available. You can see our latest workshops film here!

Here is some of the feedback we've had from our workshops:
"It was just astonishing! It was good to feel that we were in a safe environment that we could trust each other and explore and create... Magical... Absolutely worth the day!"
"I think we all need a chance to relax and to release things, and to explore possibilities with people .... The workshops were extremely valuable not only in their ability to stimulate us creatively, but bring us to a different level of understanding about ourselves and about how we interact with each other."
"It provided an opportunity to tell stories and share parts of ourselves that we never get the opportunity to. All sorts of stereotypes were cracked wide open."

If I were King of Australia... Edward de Bono

Named 'The Godfather of Lateral Thinking', Edward de Bono, was in Australia over the past week to participate in a Creative Innovation 2010 Conference in Melbourne. Run by Creative Universe, the idea is to unlock our full creative potential. The concept of the conference was to share ideas and try to solve a few global and community issues. A good idea should create value to both ourselves and our communities.

This is the work which we are involved in, using our paper and puppetry workshops. We present these world-wide in schools and universities, to help nurture creativity and channel ideas into short performance pieces, which then can be taken much further. How much creative innovation are we missing out by not thinking outside the box, while at the same time forgetting to look at the wealth of innovation deep inside of ourselves.

TV Puppetry from a Norway Fjord

When I was invited, late last year, to spend a week teaching television puppetry to a group of enthusiastic puppeteers in Kinsarvik, a tiny town in the fjords of western Norway, I keenly accepted and planned this into our European Workshop Tour for 2010. Last weekend we flew from Toulouse in southern France, via Paris and Oslo to Bergen, which took an entire day. We were picked up in Bergen by our host from a small theme park, Mikkelparken and Hardangertun holiday resort and driven the three-hours north-east to Kinsarvik in the land where the sun set at eleven at night. Mikkelparken had a set of great puppet characters developed and these were performed at the theme park in summer. My task was to assist them in developing this project for eventual television broadcast and to improve the professionalism of their live performances. It was fascinating listening to the folktales they had developed and brainstorming how these could be transformed to the small screen.

Kinsarvik (with a population of 459) is the most idyllic place to work and holiday. Our week in Kinsarvik was fantastic. We are now in Bergen for two days, before we fly to London. Stay tuned for more!

AIS Puppetry Workshop in Vienna

This 'World of Puppetry' workshop was filmed last month at the American International School in Vienna, Austria, run by Sharon Gelber and myself. It demonstrates the extraordinary puppetry improvisation skills of the students with spontaneous character creation in ten minutes.

In another short film, you can watch here - I'm having fun demonstrating some puppetry improvisation skills for the workshop participants in Vienna. This is part of our European Workshop Tour 2010. Keep tuned for more...

Puppetry in Portugal

Today we conducted magical workshops with the talented students of  St Julian's School in Carcavelos in Portugal. The small groups of IB Drama students from years ten and twelve initially created some magical scenarios out of brown paper. These were embellish through the use of voice as their instruments, as no spoken language is used in the story telling. Sounds and song help to bridge gaps and create a universal language when using the metaphor of paper to tell a story.

Two weeks ago we did a week of workshops in Slovenia. These were for students, teachers, puppeteers and professionals who wished to learn more about using puppetry. After Slovenia, we had a few gorgeous days of sightseeing in Venice and Milan, before flying to Lisbon this week.

You can view our American International School Workshop slide show from Vienna here. I still haven't had the time to finish editing the short films we are making of our workshops in Europe this year, so please be patient. More from France next week!

Workshops in Vienna

Our first two weeks in Europe were spent in Vienna. We ran workshops at both the Vienna Inter- national School and the American International School all of last week. During our three days of workshops at the VIS, besides our paper and object improvisation, we also ran a short puppetry for film workshop with film students. On Friday we ran paper workshops at the American International School. The participants were IB theatre students from years eleven and twelve and their creativity was extraordinary. I am working on a short film of their work which I'll post as soon as it's done.

This week we are working in Slovenia. Based in Velenje, we are working with schools, teachers and puppeteers throughout Slovenia, before heading to Italy. Keep tuned for our news on the road!

Artists in Residency Puppetry Program Interview

After two month's of daily workshops in three North Sydney schools, the Artists in Residency Puppetry Program has finally come to an end. During the workshops at Curl Curl North Public School, Assistant Principal, Ms Jan Warhurst, was interviewed and in this short film she discusses her feelings about the project and what she believes makes this type of work important in stimulating the creativity of both students and teachers. The project is a creative partnership between Sydney North Demonstration School, Gary Friedman Productions, The Department of Education and Training, The Australia Council and Arts NSW.

Our next project begins in Vienna at the end of next week. Keep tuned for our regular European tour reports!

New Year launch of International Puppetry Course in Sydney

Welcome to 2010. I trust this will be our best puppetry year ever! We have started our year on a very positive note with the inauguration of our two-week International Puppetry for TV and Web Course in Sydney today. We have ten new students from both Europe and Australia and today began with some warm-up yoga, naked hand and ball exercises in the mirror to develop eye focus and lip-sync and foam puppet building techniques.

Keep posted for the films from our brilliant new students which will be posted here on 15 January, after the completion of the course .

Xmas in Africa

Hello again from Africa, where we are hiding out until after Xmas. We will be visiting friends in Cape Town next week. I'm planning to be back in Australia in late-December to make the final preparations for our 2010 International Puppetry for TV and the Web Course starting in Sydney on 4 January.

We are, once again, planning a European and Middle East Workshop Tour in April till June next year. We already have many bookings for our 'World of Paper' and 'Object Workshops' throughout Europe and it looks like another exciting journey ahead, except this time we have our young passenger, Idan, in-tow.

May we take this opportunity of wishing you all a peaceful and safe holiday season. We look forward to having you on-board for an action-packed 2010.

International Workshop Tour 2010

A workshop to catalyze your next creative breakthrough & explode into a space of free flowing ideas and expanded vision!

Our Short Workshops (Three hours to two-days)

From April to June 2010, Brain Gym® specialist, and Occupational Therapist, Sharon Gelber will once again join forces with master-puppeteer, Gary Friedman, in an international workshop tour of creative performance and play for high schools, universities and the creative public throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East.

In each of the following workshops, Brain Gym® exercises will activate the brain and senses to prime the body for creative processing:

1. A World of Paper Workshop
The workshop takes a practical hands-on and experiential format, where participants express themselves and communicate through the medium of paper. The students are provided with themes to develop improvisational performance pieces in-which the paper becomes the co-performer. We cater for student, adult and corporate groups.

In a full-day workshop, participants have the opportunity to tell stories from their own life experiences which then get 'played-back' to them by their fellow performers using the paper characters. This is based on the genre of "playback theatre".

2. Object Improvisation Workshop
The participants work in groups to explore the hidden possibilities of every day objects. Different suggested themes and topics allow the objects to be brought to life, as they become ‘living - breathing’ characters on the stage.

3. Hand and Ball Exercises – Basic Puppet Manipulation
The naked hand forms the basis of the puppet. This soon becomes a basic hand or glove puppet, when a plain white ball is added. The hand and ball exercises are later developed into short scenarios and performed by the participants, both individually, then in groups.
For dates, schedules and more information, stay posted or send us an email here!

World launch of new puppet infomercial

Launching on the world-wide web tomorrow is a new puppet infomercial 'The Click Daly Show' produced by See3 Communications in Chicago and Corporate Creatures in Sydney for the Case Foundation. The short film discusses the importance of social media in creating world-wide awareness for the NGO and non-profit sector. The Case Foundation invests in individuals, nonprofits, and social enterprises aiming to connect people, increase giving, and catalyze civic action in the United States.

The 'The Click Daly Show' was shot in a green screen studio in Sydney and post-production was completed in Chicago. Enjoy!

40,000 visits and still going strong..

This morning I noticed that our visitor counter, below, has hit the 40,000 mark. This means the interest in the puppetry arts is still growing across the globe. Thank you to all who have supported me over the past few years and sorry I can't update the blog daily, due to lack of time. I do enjoy hearing from you, so if you have any ideas or news to share here, please do share your thoughts!

For those of you watching our Puppetry Films, listed on the right, I will continue adding stuff as often as I can and will start including new topics soon, so keep your eyes open for impressive new works.

Our international 'Puppetry for TV and Web Course' scheduled to take place in January at the Wesley Institute in Sydney will go ahead, although a few minor details might change, like we might shorten the course slightly to assist participants internationally who are working and can't take much time off work. Final details will be posted here soon, so keep your eyes open!

Con Quest to appear at Australian Business Events Expo in Sydney

This week sees the Australian Business Events Expo at Darling Harbour in Sydney on 22 and 23 July. Renowned British presenter of Quest Business News, Con Quest, will be hosting a booth at the Expo as well as covering the event for the web. Many of the characters from Corporate Creatures will also be roving round the expo and causing controversy. So if you are planning to be in Sydney on Wednesday or Thursday, do come down to the Exhibition Centre and check them out! Corporate Creatures will be at stand F13, so come down and visit!

Con Quest interviews Dr Howard Chilton

Con Quest our Corporate Creatures™ Business News presenter interviews well-known Australian Neonatal Pediatrician, Dr Howard Chilton. This is a promo of the full interview in which Dr Chilton discusses the similarity in behavior between newborn babies and corporate executives. It gives a fascinating insight into human behaviour and explains where it all originates. You can find Dr Chilton's book, 'Baby Onboard' here! You can view all Con's short pieces at Corporate Creatures.
The full interview can be ordered here!

Con Quest reveals Corporate Creatures™

Con Quest, the (CCBN) business news presenter from Corporate Creatures™ has made a great introduction video to the Corporate Creatures website. Here he shows off his wacky interviewing skills in the business world and gives an insight into what we can expect from him in the near future. You can Face Book Con Quest here and Twitter Con Quest here. Check the CC website out here!