The 16th Turku International Puppetry Festival will be held November 12–15, 2026.

TIP-Fest 2026 performance programme 2026 is now live!

The Turku International Puppetry Festival, better known as TIP-Fest, was held for the first time in November 2010 as part of the Turku European Capital of Culture 2011 project. The aim of the first TIP-Fest was to bring contemporary puppet theatre to the public, which flourished thanks to new professional theatres, a very active independent scene, and the Puppet Theatre Department of the Turku University of Applied Sciences Arts Academy.

In 2019, the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary and the growth and development of professional puppet theatre in Finland. The young Finnish puppet theatre scene has grown and established itself through the efforts of artists engaged in multidisciplinary collaboration. The festival’s performances have made versatile use of contemporary puppet theatre techniques, such as paper theatre, shadow theatre, hybrid and hand puppets, object and puppet manipulation, and visual theatre.

TIP-Fest became a biennale in Autumn 2024, a decision made by Aura of Puppets organisation to ensure the sustainability and bright future of the contemporary puppetry festival in Turku.

About this year

The 16th Turku International Puppetry Festival will be held November 12–15, 2026. The performance program has now been released and consists of five new Finnish contemporary puppet theater productions, as well as one French-Portuguese performance. The programme will be further supplemented over the summer with additional events, such as workshops, production presentations, discussions, and a programme aimed at puppetry professionals.

The festival’s main venue is Cultural Factory Manilla, and performances will also take place at o the Turku City Theater, Childrens cultural centre Färi, and Åbo Svenska Teater.

“The first biennial edition of TIP-Fest has allowed for long-term preparation of the event and a longer period to secure funding for it during these increasingly challenging times, both economically and socially. There is strength in collaboration, and we have gained new partners for the festival while reinforcing our relationships with organisations we already work closely with—one example being Festival club at Tehdas Theatre’s “speakeasy” Salakapakka club x TIP-Fest. All in all, this year’s side program is shaping up to be exceptionally rich, and it clearly reflects the contributions of various communities and partners,” says Festival Director Taru Tuomisto.

This year’s festival theme, “Communities,” will be explored in various ways throughout the festival: “The themes of the performances include, among other things, family, national history, finding one’s own community, and communities in nature. Nearly all of the works in the program will be seen in Turku for the first time,” says the festival’s Artistic Director Outi Sippola, introducing this year’s program.