Photos in the above gallery courtesy of Jonathan Eve, one of Puppet Place’s Resident Artist
Puppet Place is the home for puppetry in the South West. Based in Bristol’s historic Harbourside, our building at Unit 18 is packed with creative businesses and artists. Established as a charity over 40 years ago to support puppetry practitioners in the region, we are now a thriving community network.
Together, we seek to innovate, research, and develop – to nurture new ideas and emerging talent – to further develop the artform of puppetry – and to engage with the public through our work.
Puppetry is any creative practice that brings the inanimate to life. As such, Puppet Place embraces many forms of puppetry and related fields, such as animation, film, theatre, visual and interactive arts, creative technologies and robotics. From design and fabrication, to devising and manipulation, it takes skill, passion, and imagination to breathe life into a puppet.
Puppet Place is the one-stop shop for all things animated. VisitResident Artists and Associate Artists to find out about our creative community.
Did you know that we also provide discounted access to our Rehearsal Studio & Fabrication Bay via our Annual Associate Artists Membership Subscription Scheme, as well as to commercial clients?
If you have any questions or need further information please email info@puppetplace.org.
Please read our Interns & Work Experience FAQs if you are thinking about getting in touch about a placement – thanks.
Unfortunately we no longer have the capacity to produce a regular eNewsletter or to manage a mailing list, so the best way to keep up-to-date with what’s going on at Puppet Place is to follow us on our social media channels, which are currently Instagram & Facebook.
You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Di Steeds
Di was a co-founder of Puppet Place in 1984, and our community of puppetry practitioners was saddened to hear that she died on 18 July 2026. The following is a personal reflection by Puppet Place’s former CEO Rachel McNally.
I first met Di in the mid 1990s at Hope Centre in Hotwells. I knew her as a stalwart of Hotwells Panto, but it was a little later that I came to know her more fully as a puppeteer. Hope Centre was a crucible for Bristol arts for many years and was also the home of Puppet Place – the organisation that Di set up with fellow puppeteer Jim Still in 1984. Puppet Place actually started out as a Puppet Van, touring the South West promoting puppet shows and supporting artists. Later it had a number of bases in Bristol and continued to support artists through its extensive library of books and resources as well as support arts learning in different schools.
The first time I encountered it, Puppet Place was a tiny organisation with a big heart and this is thanks to the ethos and character of its founders. Puppeteers from across the South West always found a warm welcome and support readily available at a time when puppetry was barely recognised in the arts world. Without people like Di, who actively championed puppetry at this time, we would not have the brilliant and inventive puppetry sector that we do now.
When we first approached Di to take on Puppet Place it had been on the “shelf” for a number of years after losing funding. As a group of puppetry companies working in Bristol, we felt we needed a framework within which we could work to support each other and share resources. We needed Puppet Place back! I vividly remember sitting in Di’s kitchen with Chris Pirie, Marc Parrett, Lizzie Philps, Dik Downey, and Vicky Andrews talking about our ideas with Di and Katherine Martin. Di was very clear with us that she was happy for us to take on Puppet Place but that it could not just be about our companies’ work, it had to support the wider community of puppetry in the South West. From day one, I know we all tried to honour this as we worked out what Puppet Place could be and how we would make it work.
Di, alongside her partner Henry, continued to support us on this journey – Henry built most of the walls in Puppet Place’s harbourside studios and Di amazingly catered for the artists for the first Bristol Festival of Puppetry in 2009. I will always remember Di & Henry calmly walking into the Tobacco Factory and unboxing fabulous feasts for hungry artists and crew. It felt like a daily miracle to all of us as we ran the festival for the first time.
Di was an excellent champion of puppetry and a wonderful friend to many in the puppetry world. She is missed.
We have recently published our first Podcast on Spotify: Have you ever wondered about puppetry? Wondered what it takes to breathe life into a puppet? And how puppeteers began their practice?
This live panel discussion, recorded at Puppet Place on Wednesday 23 April 2025, features panellists: Carrot (Beanpig Puppets/@beanpigpuppets), Izzy B (Izzy Bristow/@izzleb), and Jasmine Orchard (Scarlet Oak Theatre/@scarletoaktheatre). It chaired by Matt Gibbs (@mattwgibbs), recorded by Jonathan Eve (@jonathanevefilm), and produced by Matt and Jonathan.
PUPPET PLACE IN THE MEDIA
Puppet Place Resident Artists Matt Gibbs and Izzy Bristow (shown here on the left) were interviewed on BCFM’s Backchat show by presenter Jacqueline Walker.
This show was this was broadcast on Wednesday 17 June at 9am and it was produced by Anthea Page.
You can listen to this fascinating 30mins conversation about Puppet Place and Matt and Izzy’s work by clicking the play button below.
You can also read the feature about Puppet Place and Bath Carnival, who are based at Puppet Place, in Nearside Magazine below:
BBC West recently visited Puppet Place to speak with one of our residents, Cat Rock, and you can see the results here on BBC West’s Instagram feed.
You can also read editorial coverage about Puppet Place and our Resident Artists in the Bristol Magazine and in Bristol 24/7. Plus take a look at this great new interview by Zack of some of the Puppet Place residents produced by Gabriel Cowan & Tyler Freeman Smith, and you can also listen to this Audio piece produced by Dan Edge and Jess Hughes – where they interview some of our amazing Resident Artists.
You can also find out more about our vision and ambitions for Puppet Place via our Business Plan: Animating the Future 2024-27 and via the short film below:
DONATE TO PUPPET PLACE!
Support Puppet Place with a one-off or regular donation today. Your support can help us maintain our unique fabrication space, rehearsal studio and meeting room and support the development of independent makers, puppeteers and puppetry companies.
ARTISTS RESOURCES
Puppet Place is dedicated to supporting artists and professionals wishing to include puppetry and animation as part of their work. This support is both practical and developmental.
VOLUNTEERING
Puppet Place would not exist without the goodwill of our volunteers. Our volunteers are an important part of our community, helping us to develop the organisation and bringing valuable skills and knowledge. Find out more about volunteering here.