Carolene Yawa Ada

2024 QEST Scholar - Puppet making
London

Carolene is a puppet maker with a lifelong ambition to share the art of puppetry to new audiences. After many years working in education as a teacher, workshop facilitator and artist, Carolene started her own community arts organisation – Swallow’s Wings Puppetry. 

Carolene now hopes to discover her own hybrid way of making marionettes that combine her two heritages – West African (Togolese) and French.

With the help of QEST training, Carolene has created a bespoke learning programme with some of the last remaining traditional marionette practitioners in the UK and Senegal. She will participate in six separate training activities with a range of master puppet makers through one-on-one training, exploring mechanisms, balance, weight, carving, character, movement, expressions, tools and costume.

Her main goal is to diversify the world of puppet makers as well as to ensure marionette making remains alive in the UK.

Her other aims are to be a lead maker in her own right, improve her business development skills and to continue to inspire the children, young people and elders she teaches in her workshops.

Puppetry is an ancient and magical craft. It is completely inclusive and versatile and capable of inspiring new stories and reaching everyone.

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