WE NEED YOUR HELP TO TELL THE STORY OF BEVERLEY!
Beverley has long been a town of sanctuary since the Middle Ages. Famous sanctuary stones stand at its edges and a towering Minster at its heart, marking an ancient boundary line where fugitives could seek shelter from the law for up to 40 days. Today, Beverley remains a town of sanctuary but of a different kind - as a safe place to live and work; as a place to escape away to on holiday; as a place of creative sanctuary - a town filled with arts and culture.
Beverley Puppet Festival and Beverley Minster invite you to share your memories and thoughts of Beverley to be used as inspiration for a digital puppetry film commission, which will be exhibited in Summer 2021 in the Minster. Did you grow up here? Do you live here now? Do you travel to Beverley for work? Do you go to school here? What is your fondest memory of Beverley? Where do you see Beverley in 20 years? We’re interested in hearing your story of Beverley.
You can share your Beverley story by:
Printing out the story collection flyer by clicking HERE or the PDF symbol and then handwriting your story. You can print in black and white and make sure to select 'double sided'. Then fold it up/tape shut, attach a stamp and post it out to us with the address given on the front.
Sending us a simple email with your story to beverleypuppetfestival@gmail.com
Uploading a video or an audio recording (up to two minutes) by clicking HERE or the purple button
Puppet making and performance activity library of 25 videos free to access!
The award-winning Beverley Puppet Festival usually fills the streets with excited onlookers. Giant creatures roam around Toll Gavel, Butcher Row and the Flemingate Centre; tiny, magical worlds are revealed to unsuspecting audiences in the Friary Gardens and indoor shows for all ages from 0-103 take place at The Friary, East Riding Theatre, Beverley Masonic Hall and Toll Gavel Church Hall.
In 2020 however the Covid-19 pandemic faced us with the painful prospect of cancelling it all. Unthinkable! We decided instead to go online! This was a new adventure for the festival team and one that now spanned two months instead of just one weekend!
Live performances are very different from the medium of film, so the emphasis was on what we all can do at home, not on filming finished performances which we would prefer to see live. We commissioned three artists’ videos per week to start appearing from May 18th – July 12th 2020 to inspire and invite people of all ages to participate in a diverse range of puppetry-related activities that can be completed at home. All of these videos now remain in our Activity Video Library - free to access!