Interchange Australia offers our participants a wide range of art and cultural experiences. Many of our clients have been fortunate to participate in workshops run by professionals across varied fields including professional artists, puppeteers and directors.

The medium of puppetry as an art and cultural activity is a wonderful medium for people with a disability to explore their imagination, express their creativity and learn new artistic skills. Our clients were fortunate to learn skills under the professional guidance of Sue and Steve from Sydney Puppet Theatre at Sutton Forest. Our participants created their own unique puppets and performed with their characters on stage. It was a wonderful opportunity for participants to foster their artistic and dramatic skills. Sue and Steve have an exceptional ability to communicate with people, foster excitement with working with puppets including using user friendly materials and understanding people’s talents, communication requirements and creativity.

It was evident from the client’s performances that the participants felt supported to perform at their highest level due to the warm embracing environment. There has been clients from all ages that have attended their workshops with high levels of engagement and enjoyment. Their workshops tailored to the client’s needs, including a workshop for children using shadow puppets and a nonverbal client performing on stage with their wonderfully created puppet.

Amber Hall

Interchange Australia Consultant

“The workshops clearly had a positive impact on not only all who attended, but also our staff, who were unanimous in their praise.”

Belinda Sculley (former Young Creatives Coordinator)

In response to the Telling Tales exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art (2016), the Sydney Puppet Theatre was invited to devise and run a series of 5 different puppetry workshops for the public program. Offered free to the public, the workshops needed to be suitable for all ages and abilities.

A number of people came to more than one workshop and the mother of 2 young participants wrote “I am bringing the girls tonight they loved last week, my youngest took everything in for news the next day. I had no idea what the MCA building was about and am so glad we wandered in.”

Penrith City Library has offered a range of educational and entertaining activities for families with young children to suit their age-based interests and needs during school holidays for more than twenty years. For example, puppet and magic shows are an integral part of our school holiday programs, along with a variety of workshops.

Sydney Puppet Theatre has been presenting puppet shows at Penrith City Library since the inception of our holiday programs and have performed the majority of their shows and teen workshops (specifically designed at Penrith Library’s request) at the Library.
Sue and Steve’s shows and workshops are inventive, engaging, well researched and always well attended. We have always received positive comments from the audience about Sue and Steve’s professional engagement and rapport with the audience.

Sydney Puppet Theatre has always met our objectives, standards and audience expectations.

Sue and Steve had also made beautiful puppets for a project funded by Western Sydney Public Libraries Alliance called Dreamweaver Kits. We are still using these puppets at our story time sessions. “Have You Seen the Baby” and “Owl Babies” are my favourites and we receive so many positive comments when we take them to child care centres.

Sue and Steve are the masters of their profession – it’s been a pleasure working with them for many years.

Barjinder Kaur

Children’s Librarian