We are seeking new and existing puppet shows for presentation at the 2021 Thousand Faces Festival in September and October of this year.

The Thousand Faces Festival is accepting show submissions for a five-show online festival of mythologically-grounded Edmonton Puppetry. Performances are to be live-streamed in Late September through October from the National Stilwalkers of Canada Streaming Studio, a fully-equipped, large studio with green screen. These performances will be part of a larger Puppetry Nexus Project, which will include free workshops in puppetry and puppet making from Randall Fraser and other Senior Edmonton Puppeteers. Artists accepted into the festival will also be considered for paid leadership of workshops, and may have the opportunity to perform in person as well.

For the past 10 years, The Thousand Faces Festival has celebrated the myths and stories at the roots of Edmonton’s many cultures through theatre, music, dance, and other artistic disciplines. We are committed to ensuring that our staff, crew and artistic teams also reflect the diversity we see on our stages. We strongly encourage submissions from people of all backgrounds and look forward to continuing our tradition of discovering what connects us all through art. To encourage a diversity of applications, we ask that this call be shared as widely as possible. Please send it to anyone you think may be interested!

Premieres and existing works are welcome.

Applicants pitching an existing show are invited to submit video selections of 15 – 45 minutes from that performance, as well as a resume and either a cover letter or video equivalent.

Those pitching new works should provide video selections of 10-20 minutes from previous works, as well as a resume and a précis of the intended new piece.

Please email the festival’s Artistic Director, Mark Henderson, at markh@thousandfaces.ca with the subject line “Puppetry Nexus Submission” and attach your resume, cover letter/précis, and a link to a YouTube video with your video selections. Links to video files or other video hosting platforms will not be watched.