some questions might be..do I need a audience to be a Ventriloquist? or can I do ventriloquism for myself
Can you do ventriloquism for yourself? The answer is the art of ventriloquism is a practice that's all it is, the entertainer part is when the Ventriloquist does demonstrations of their gifts and talents but besides that the art of ventriloquism is creating illusions, practicing lip control, practicing voice throwing, rehearsal of skits and routines, voice control, and so much much more...
a Ventriloquist should spend most of their time in the lab working on ventriloquism and studying..ventriloquism is a art, and it is so fascinating when a Ventriloquist give a demonstration it wow the crowd to gather an audience, the Ventriloquist does not have a audience the demonstration has the audience, let's take Edgar Bergen for example, Edgar Bergen demonstration of Charlie McCarthy as a real person gather the audience, that is why Edgar Bergen was confused himself not realizing that it's not him that gather the audience but the demonstration of his gifts and talents.
It is wise that you understand that you are a one man show or one woman show, you sing, you tell jokes, you're a puppeteer, you're a illusionist, you're a voice magician, you're a actor or actress you do all this at the same time.
That is why you have rehearsal, to put all those things and more into the art of ventriloquism.. you may never give a demonstration of your gifts and talents abilities but rehearsal and practice of the art ventriloquism is what belly talkers do.
To answer the question more clearly look at the art of ventriloquism like yoga, yoga can be for personal use or for a group, yoga can be a demonstration and there are yoga instructors for hire...and look at the art of ventriloquism like the martial arts, martial arts is a practice of skills and techniques, the color of the belt represents the gifts and talents. when I was in elementary school I received my yellow belt and certificate, a yellow belt is the next level up from a white belt, white belts are beginner belts..
a student of the martial arts demonstrations are performed at tournaments....so there you have it tree related subjects that are self taught or with a group.