Aurélie Filippetti, Minister of Culture and Communication, in agreement with Jean-Paul Bachy, President of the Champagne-Ardenne Regional Council, Benoît Huré, President of the Ardennes General Council, Philippe Pailla, Mayor of Charleville-Mézières and Raymond Weber, President of the International Puppetry Institute, gave its approval to the unanimous decision of the jury, meeting on March 7, 2014, to appoint Eloi Recoing as director of the International Puppetry Institute.
Director, educator, writer and translator, Eloi Recoing has worked with the puppet arts throughout his career, both personally and professionally. Artistic and pedagogical director of the Théâtre aux Mains Nus, founded by his father Alain, Eloi Recoing is deeply imbued with the challenges of training and transmission. He is a lecturer at the Institut d'Etudes Théâtrales at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University - Paris 3 and works at several theatre colleges (CNSAD, ENSATT, TNS...).
The only national school of puppetry arts in France, the International Puppetry Institute (IIM) is also a centre of resources, research and continuing education, whose value and action are recognized internationally.
His project for the IIM, inspired by the founders of this unique institution in France - Jacques Félix, Margareta Niculescu and Lucile Bodson, outgoing director whose decisive action the Minister wishes to salute in recent years-, whose aim is to reflect the expectations of the professional sector, to reinforce puppetry techniques in the pedagogical scheme, to deepen the links with the major theatrical schools, without forgetting the challenges related to the reconfiguration of occupational integration, the synergy of research activities with school activities, the development of collaborations with the World Festival of Puppet Theatres and the promotion of the Institute internationally.
Eloi Recoing will take office in July 2014.