Between Art and Commerce

Contact puppetry is a western interpretation of the ancient Japanese bunraku puppetry. In the last decade or so, the popularity seems to have grown exponentially. As part of the performing arts, contact puppetry is a creative industry. These industries are characterized by seven properties, according to Richard Caves in his book Creative Industries; Contracts Between Art and Commerce (2000). By means of three modern-day contact puppetry productions (War Horse, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and A Dog’s Heart), the aim of this thesis is to identify if everyday practice in contact puppetry follows the creative industry ‘rules’ as portrayed by Caves’ properties. And if so, what can be (preliminary) said from a cultural economic point of view about the economic and artistic reasons to use contact puppetry?