RANKIN INLET
An old performing art will be back at the forefront of communication for a special project being launched in Rankin Inlet during the next few months.

Benton Lowe displays one of the puppets he'll be using for a new multifaceted project he'll be launching in late summer or early fall in Rankin Inlet. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Benton Lowe is in the process of developing a puppetry program to work on drama skills and general confidence in the North. He'll also be constructing a puppetry studio.

Lowe received a grant from the Government of Nunavut's Department of Culture and Heritage to build the studio and launch the project , which will incorporate Inuktitut into the performance dialogue, in Rankin Inlet.

Lowe has a real passion for puppetry, growing up during its hey day in the 1990s.

"Jim Henson and all those people involved with puppetry on TV at that time were really influential on what I liked to watch during my childhood," said Lowe.

"And so, later on, I decided that's what I wanted to embark on as a professional hobby."

Last Christmas, Lowe contacted a good friend of his, Jordan Lockhart, whose puppetry work inspires him.

"He's a young guy, like me," Lowe said, "but he's worked with some Jim Henson stuff and other original projects and I got inspired to embark on this journey, too, through the things I saw him do."

Lowe got serious about his 'professional hobby' as many others do, by getting his first puppet, putting in hours of practice and networking to build connections within the industry.

"I actually just got back from Edmonton and New York City, where I worked with some puppeteers from the Muppets and Sesame Street to give me some training, and that was really, really fun," he said.

"So I'm trying to really immerse myself in it to become a better puppeteer myself and to also become someone capable of teaching it well.

"My hope, with the club, is to use the puppets to help give the kids confidence - in terms of public speaking and any drama-related projects or exercises - teach them how to create videos and, most importantly, to simply have while fun doing it."

Teaching youth who join the club how to create videos is an important part of Lowe's vision, as the set he's building is aimed at monitor puppetry, which is a little different from its theatrical cousin.

Monitor puppetry is the form you see on TV shows like the Muppets and Sesame Street -it involves different training aspects from straight theatrical puppetry and has a higher learning curve, according to Lowe.

Lowe said he believes puppetry, importantly, can bring a different dimension to a lot of discussions, especially sensitive issues that may be difficult to talk about.

"One thing that makes it really cool is that, unlike the big wave of animation kids see on TV today, a puppet can be tangible in that it can be there.

"When I have the puppet with me, he's the most interesting thing in the room and he's far more interesting to look at than just me, so, as soon as a puppet is brought into a room, things change."

"Your barriers go down almost immediately with a puppet, which is another cool thing about working with them."

Lowe said puppets are able to connect with kids on their level, while still holding the substance of the conversation. And conversely, puppets have the ability to make adults feel like kids again and make things very approachable.

"Puppets manage to talk about many issues with relative ease, especially when compared to a human, because they have the ability to just calm everything down," he said.

"No matter how serious the topic may be, puppets have a way of talking about it with such clarity and warmth that people are interested in listening to what's being said.

"And, aside from the totally-fun aspect of creating, giving kids a voice is a really big part of this for me."

Lowe said he can be a shy person when expressing himself, but can say things a lot more freely as a puppet. His own personal experience is one of the reasons he says he's so confident puppetry can give kids a voice and create a space where everyone is more comfortable talking about touchy issues.

"I also want to be able to strengthen language, so, the program will be such that, as we're learning puppetry, we'll be focusing on Inuktitut, as well," he said, "so working with language is also going to be a big aspect of this program."

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