The postgraduate Marionetas and Forms Animated from the Superior School of Education of Lisbon (ESELx) is the only one, in Portugal, to integrate the world directory of trainers schools in this area. The directory, an initiative of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette, which relies on the sponsorship of UNESCO, is in permanent update and aims to communicate and give to know the ensemble, the richness and diversity of the professional training proposals in the area of the puppetry arts in actuality.
To Miguel Falcão, lecturer and graduate coordinator of the Lisbon Higher School of Education, being part of the directory "will give greater visibility to the work that, in this framework, is being developed at this School of the Lisbon Polytechnic, potentiating both the attractiveness of the course among foreign students and the integration of the teaching team and students in international research networks and in intervention projects".
As early as 2017, the formation of the ESELx was featured in the 24 th edition of the Festival Incanti-Rassegna Internazionale di Teatro di Figure, in Turin (Italy). For Miguel Falcão, "the fact that, in a country with a strong tradition in puppeteers, as it is Portugal, this course has been the first-and so far only-fully dedicated to this form of Theatre in Portuguese higher education, alongside the uniqueness of having been created in an institution of" Education "(and not in an artistic institution, with the would be more expectable), is at the origin of the tribute".
In 2019, the book "Marionets and Animated Forms: Theories and Practices" , coordinated by Miguel Falcão and Catarina Firmo, which includes, among the authors of the 11 chapters, professors at ESELx, researchers from other higher education institutions and creators of different artistic structures, gave greater visibility to postgraduate education.
The 1 th editionthat of the postgraduate Marionetas and Forms Animated from the Superior School of Education of Lisbon proceeded in the school year 2016/2017. It was, however, included in the Polytechnic of Lisbon candidacy to the supports of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and obtained funding that, among other benefits, allows to assign scholarships to students of the 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 school years.
Postgraduate Marionetas and Animated Forms is aimed at artists, lecturers, animators, cultural mediators and other professionals who already integrate or wish to integrate puppetry into their practices and account for a specialized faculty in various areas of the puppet.
Text of CSS/GCI IPL