Alex Finnegan

About the blogger:
Alex Finnegan, is a 34 year old Boat-builder, Designer and Project Manager, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, where he lives with his wife, Puppeteer Alison McGowan and their 2 year old son, Daniel.

Alison trained as a Puppeteer, and worked all over the world, on stage and TV, with Artists as diverse as Laurie Anderson and Sooty. While Alex, toured the UK as a Professional Musician and worked briefly as a Graphic Designer in London before becoming a City Farm Manager in Rotherhithe (milking 12 goats by hand, twice a day!) saving enough money to train as a wooden boat-builder in Lowestoft.

With the arrival of the Tall Ships Festival on the Tyne in 2005 Alex and Alison submitted proposals to the local council for the creation of a floating Puppet Theatre on the River Tyne.

Even though this business plan was well received at the time, funding proved elusive, leading to a crisis point where it seemed the lack of funds would stall the project completely.

It was the national recognition and financial security of the UnLtd Millennium Award in 2005, which has afforded Alex and Alison the time to develop the project concept into PuppetShip Community Interest Company.

PuppetShip CIC continues to seek core funding for the purchase and conversion of an ex-commercial Humber Barge into a 100 seat floating Puppet Theatre. With the support of UnLtd Ventures, PuppetShip CIC has identified a sustainable interim plan for sustainability before the actual barge purchase.

Read this blogger's entries