and welcome to the first Mask & Puppets Ezine of 2001. For those pedants amongst us, myself included, 2001 is the actual new millennium, and it promises to begin strongly for the Centre. In its various forms, SMPC has been on the go for 16 years now, having formerly The Garret Mask & Puppet Centre down the road on Otago Street. In that time we've put on countless shows by some of the best puppeteers, mask actors and physical theatre artist from all over the world. We've also produced numerous in-house performances, put in place a full-time professional training course, provided information and inspiration for thousands of enthusiasts and professionals and maintained international links with Centres and organisations around the world. All this as a way of meeting our original aim, to raise and maintain standards within the art form, and to dignify the professional puppeteer. Hopefully, we're not doing too bad a job!

There's no time for backslapping though, as 2001 will be as hectic as every year at the Centre. Right now we are rewriting the HND Puppet Theatre Arts course for revalidation by SQA, as well as continuing to teach this year's students. We are also putting the wheels in motion on a couple of major performance projects for later in the year, and all the while The Magic Of Masks & Puppets exhibition continues to make its way around Britain to rave reviews. Demand for the exhibition has been so great that we're now thinking about putting together another mini-exhibition to tour at the same time. Gluttons for punishment? Maybe.

As always, this Ezine tries to reflect what has been happening recently and what is coming up in the near future, as well as containing articles from our team of experts. Grant Mason is back with FX Corner. It's been a busy time for Grant recently, and there have been some decidedly strange things going on in his workshop - even by his standards. Read if you dare! You'll also find there's more of slant towards masks in this issue, with Centre founder Malcolm Knight writing on traditions in mask-making and our interview section featuring John W. Harris, one of the UK's greatest authorities in mask theatre Plus there's the usual update from Trev Hill who continues his unique exploration of puppet culture in Poland, and Stephanie Green writes for Mask & Puppets for the first time. Stephanie has written for Animations and will edit the next BrUNIMA Bulletin. Here she shares her thoughts on Clydebuilt Puppets Theatre's Indian Tales.

So that's it for another three months. Join us again for our Easter issue which will contain all the usual sections plus a few more features, as soon as we've dreamed them up. Don't forget to come and see some of our Saturday Shows, look round the permanent exhibition in the foyer, or just pay us a visit. See you in the spring!

John Clarke
Editor
ps use the links at the top of the page to navigate through the Ezine.