Character Division is based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. The lands upon which we are privileged to live and work have been the traditional territories of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples since time immemorial. We also acknowledge that these lands are covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. When touring live performances and presenting workshops, talks and exhibits our work additionally takes us through the traditional traditional territories of many other Indigenous nations across Ontario and beyond.
All of our artists, collaborators, and staff recognize the enduring and important presence of diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples throughout these lands, and we are grateful for their stewardship of them.
Character Division was originally founded in the former Borough of East York in 2004 as The World’s Angriest Puppets with the support of the BizStart youth entrepreneurship program. From 2008 – 2013 we co-produced several projects in collaboration with the Unraku Puppetry Collective, and have since continued to periodically collaborate with several other Unraku alumni.
In 2019 with the support of the Artscape Daniels Launchpad incubator we became Character Division, to reflect a renewed focus on utilizing puppetry techniques to create character driven entertainment. We have also received support from the Ontario Tourism Innovation Lab and the Toronto Public Library’s Entrepreneur Suite.
Special thanks go also to all the talented cinematographers, videographers and photographers who have documented us and whose work appears throughout this site, especially Tom Antos, Paddy Jane, and Robin Hamill. Photos of our work with Unraku appears on this site courtesy of Unraku, Inc. and its member artists.
Our websites are powered by WordPress using the Salient Theme created by ThemeNectar. Most of the Google maps that appear on this site are styled using the “Pale Dawn” theme created by Adam Krough. The “Necessary Penguins” logo utilizes the Riffic typeface designed by Nini Prower. Our “Box Pop” logos and typography use modified versions of the Tondu font family designed by Jonathan Hill.
Character Division uses and supports the development of open source software for computer graphics and animation (Blender, Krita, OpenToonz), computer aided design (LeoCAD, LDraw), storyboarding (Storyboarder), productivity (Libre Office, Thunderbird), web browsing and development (Mozilla Firefox, Bootstrap, Gantry). We are indebted to the dedicated teams of engineers, programmers and users around the world who volunteer their time and knowledge to make these projects possible.
