“Puppetry is a long history to the earliest forms of civilization. We’re able to utilize their talents across the Center, but also have their input in productions and what we’re offering our audiences here,” said Shiavo.īecause nearly every culture has some form of puppetry, the Center for Puppetry Arts’ collection also plays a key role in showing the diversity of puppeteers around the world and throughout history. “We are proud to have a residency program that also allows the artists to have a voice in the overall strategy of the Center. One way the Center for Puppetry Arts works to engage a diverse set of puppeteers is through their residency program. The long-running Sesame Street, for example continues to build a more representative Muppet world that now includes Black Muppets and a Muppet with Autism. Schiavo notes that in the United States, puppetry hasn’t traditionally recruited talent from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities, but now there is a greater effort to grow the interest and reach among all groups. One of the pieces from Pipkins’ show will also join the permanent collection at the Center. Created by Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins, whose nickname is a play on Pinocchio’s woodcarver father Geppetto, the story was transformed into an Afrofuturist “hip hopera” about a robot boy who who engages in b-boying and hip-hop culture in his quest for humanity. This program debuted in late June 2022 when the Center for Puppetry Arts unveiled a production entitled, “5P1N0K10,” a play on the 1881 Italian children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.
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One program, Puppetry NOW, is a new museum exhibition series highlighting work from contemporary artists of color.
Thanks in part to an American Rescue Plan Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as the organization continues to welcome back patrons and school groups, they are also working to reflect on and grow the scope of their programs in ways that continue to give back to the community. “Puppetry is very much a nomadic lifestyle puppeteers will pack up their bag and go to libraries and schools and small theaters, it was visionary to have a place truly just for puppetry, where puppeteers can come from all around the country to a place that’s just for them,” said Beth Schiavo, executive director of the Center for Puppetry Arts. Serving as a museum, performance space, and education center all rolled into one makes the Center stand out on the world stage. headquarters for UNIMA, the world’s largest puppetry organization.
The Center also houses a museum with a 4,000-piece collection, provides educational programming to youth both in-person and online, and acts as the U.S. The others were presented by puppeteers from across the United States and around the globe. Pre-pandemic, the Center hosted around 17 shows each season, about half a dozen of which were original productions. (Photo Courtesy of Center for Puppetry Arts)įounded by Vincent Anthony in 1978, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest nonprofit dedicated to puppetry in the nation and one of only a few such international organizations. Kermit the Frog on display in the Center for Puppetry’s Jim Henson Gallery.
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