What we do:
The work we make ranges from small scale theatrical experiences to spectacular outdoor shows, from community arts workshops to specialist training, from giant puppets and kinetic processional floats to beautiful sculptural lanterns.
We create work for both day and night time events.
We have a large range of costumes, puppets, and street entertainment available for hire and will be happy to discuss the possibilities with you to suit your requirements. We can also provide artistic direction and management for events.
We offer:
Carnivals and parades: We produce carnivals and parades from scratch, but can also provide themed sections to enhance existing parades. We have hundreds of themed carnival costumes for children and adults available for hire, as well as a number of large scale processional images, floats and mobile sound systems. We are very happy to work with communities to create new floats, carnival costumes and accessories and lanterns. Our existing themed parade sections include: The Ocean, The River, The Ice Parade, Celestial Skies, Incredible Insects, Mexican Day of the Dead and All things Skeleton.
Lanterns: We make lanterns of all shapes and sizes. We make lanterns that float and fly, are processional or static, and use all types of materials: paper, fabric, fibre glass, plastics and anything else that we can find that enhances the glow of the light from within. The lanterns we make can take anything from 15 minutes to 5 weeks for more complicated and intricate creations. You can commission us to make specially designed lanterns for all occasions, or run workshops with your organisation.
Please also see community engagement.
Community engagement: Providing excellent quality arts workshops and participation opportunities lies at the heart of the company’s work. Over the last 10 years we have developed a unique model of community based arts practice, and have become widely recognised nationally as a company that leads in exceptional quality community engagement. Local authorities and organisations employ us time and again for these achievements and we receive glowing testimonials from those who experience the work first hand– the communities we work with, demonstrating the far reaching and positive effects participating in the arts can have, in terms of learning new skills, increasing confidence and well-being and promoting community cohesion and creative celebration.
Giant Puppets: Giant puppets are a particular specialty and over the last 10 years we’ve been developing and refining materials and techniques which make our puppets lighter weight, more articulated and easier to animate. We have a large range of wearable giant puppets available to hire. They can be very interactive and make great walk-about entertainment at festivals or as a highlight in a carnival parade. We also have several illuminated puppet creatures and characters that are ideal for night time or winter events
Walk about characters: We have a collection of weird and wonderful walk-about characters, whose presence in a crowd or on the street bring a uniquely entertaining experience and provide a sense of something really special taking place. All our characters can be illuminated and are suitable for day or night time events. Many also adapt for stilted performance.
The Burden Carrier collection includes: The Postman, The Bird Catcher, The Waiting Woman, The Knitter, The Landlord, The Singer and The Washer Woman.
Other characters include: The Snow Queen, The Bird People, and sets of costumes available for Street Bands such as the Furry Creatures, The Cloud Heads, The Traveling Skeletons and The Bees.
Fire sculpture : We design and build beautiful 2-D or 3-D fire sculptures, based on steel frameworks. They can be small scale or enormous crane hung images. Fire sculpture creates a fantastic instant effect, providing a dramatic highlight or finale to any outdoor event or celebration.
Spectacular outdoor shows: We combine all our work to create fantastic celebrations and spectacular shows. Up until now, these larger scale shows have been been presented as one-off events, but we are currently developing touring versions of our shows – watch this space. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss developing a new show for your project or event.
Costume design and hires: We have various costume collections available for hire, in child and adult sizes. We also have smaller sets of special illuminated costumes and dazzling one-off costumes. Our outstanding Costume design team can provide designs and create amazing tailor made costumes for one-off or multiple commissions, to suit your particular requirements.
Street Art activities: We have four colorful Art Carts that operate as mobile arts workshops, ideal for kids activities at festivals. The carts work best with two activity leaders, who can work with 10-15 people on a rolling basis. Activities we include: painting/printing, mask-making, face painting, lantern-making, percussion, dance, puppet making and silly dressing up! This list is by no means exhaustive and we are always glad to come up with new ideas to suit new situations.
Processional kinetic floats: We have a number of pedal powered kinetic floats available for hire, and also relish the opportunity to make new ones! Existing floats include: The Spinning Snowflakes, the Fishy Carousel, The Lantern Ferris Wheel, The Starburst, Exploding Fruit Salad, The Windmill.
Educational Residencies: We provide excellent artist residencies for schools, colleges and training courses, or groups of artists. The residencies may be run by an individual artist or a small team, providing training and guidance in all aspects of carnival arts, outdoor theatre and spectacle based events. Residencies can be a weekend, a week, a month or longer. Please get in touch to discuss your needs.
Specialist Workshops: We run occasional specialist master classes, lead by artists and theatre makers of national and international standing, in the following areas:
Kinetic processional sculpture, giant puppets, extreme costume and large scale lanterns. Other master classes can be organised by arrangement. We have a programme of workshops and master classes which will be running in February/March 2013 in conjunction with a new exhibition celebrating 10 years of the Lantern Company. More details will be available shortly.
Site decoration: We have a large selection of lanterns, flags and display structures of all colours and designs to hire, which can create enchanting spaces night or day. We are also very happy to work with you to create specially designed places and make or source new site décor for your event, big or small.
