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Recognizing that housing is a real challenge in Calgary – we have decided to part with Baba Yaga’s hut on Chicken Legs! For a mere $200.00 OBO this one room, portable abode could be yours! Skulls are extra! Call 228 3373 to book a ‘walk though’. No kiddin’
Looking Forward
WPTS is pleased to welcome Fif Fernandes as our new performer and workshop leader.
Fif brings her love of life and passion to everything she does. Whether she is performing for 5,000 people or 10 people, facilitating workshops, writing and directing for television and stage, or sitting at the bedside of a un-well child, Fif brings her humor, loving kindness and heartfelt compassion to the forefront. Fif received her BFA from the University of Calgary in 1985 and over last 20 years she has been blessed to have mentored and worked with incredible people with whom she has garnered numerous national and international awards.
Recent highlights include workshop facilitation for 2 highly acclaimed pilot projects with children: “Art of Peace Camp” with author Carolyn Pogue in Calgary, Canada; and a series of workshops with and for street children with Dr. Ashish Ghosh, ANANT Theatre and The National Museum India in New Delhi; performing and presenting with “Puppets for Peace” to over 50 schools in Alberta and at the 47th International Peace Research Association Conference, and as the acting coach for the first BBC/CTV co-production, “The Magician’s House”. Fif and Mousy/Norchu, (her puppet who received special blessings from HH the Dalai Lama) also volunteer in emergency at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
Update on Puppet Power 2007
Puppets as Agents of Social Change
We have been hard at work this summer and our speaker planning is coming along.
Graciela Monteagudo has agreed to join us as a plenary speaker – talking about life as an Argentine human rights activist and community artist. She has worked internationally with diverse communities both on her own and with Bread and Puppet Theater. Some of her work has included coordinating puppet and street theatre actions in Latin America and throughout the USA. She holds an MFA from Goddard College and us currently a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts.
Graciela will also lead a workshop for all conference participants in making a quick Giant Puppet, before we go on a parade through the University of Calgary.
More speakers will be announced soon. Keep checking our blog: www.puppetpower2007.blog.ca
Puppet Power 2007 on the streets
Blueberry Johnson, our ‘poster puppet’, is going to take to the streets this year to promote Puppet Power 2007. Recently he supported the march for Middle East peace in downtown Calgary – wearing his red tartan vest and holding a placard.
The Just Kids Puppet Club has a new location and a new name but it’s still the same fun.
JKPC has moved to the Creative Kids Museum – TELUS World of Science (formally the Calgary Science Centre). It will be featured as part of the CREATIVE TIME Sunday afternoon workshops and called The PuppetFun Class! Still taught by Wendy Passmore, Artistic Director of WPTS and Programming Coordinator of Creative Kids Museum, the next session will be:
November 19th 2006 1:30 -3:30 pm ~ Ages 7-12
"Where the Wild Things Are", by Maurice Sendak inspires our creation of a colorful paper sculpture rod puppet and dancing a "wild thing" dance!
This is a pre-registered, age designated, hands on workshop. To Register call 268 8302. Registrations need to be paid in full at the time of booking. Visa, MC, cheque, cash or debit. Parents are welcome to stay and are free. It is $35.00 plus GST per child. Supplies included. Maximum 16 participants. For more information on the Creative Kids Museum which opens in October 14th please see www.creativekidsmuseum.com
An Inconvenient Truth: See this movie!!!
“With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization”
www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm/
Paramount Classics announced today that “An Inconvenient Truth” has grossed over $20 million dollars, making it the #4 highest grossing documentary of all time. As part of the campaign to encourage audiences to see “An Inconvenient Truth,” Classics made an unprecedented pledge of 5% of all box office receipts to be donated to The Alliance for Climate Protection. With the success of the film, that donation will exceed $1 million dollars.
The Kinetic Sculpture Project
CAOS (Calgary Animated Objects Society) is a non-profit arts group, dedicated to the arts of mask, puppetry, and animated objects. We strive to make art and art activities accessible to all people.
The Kinetic Sculpture project is a project to build a human-powered vehicle with a White Buffalo puppet on top of the vehicle. The sculpture will be moveable and we plan for it to take about 4 people to operate. We will build the puppet over the next year, and then take the puppet to festivals, events, powwows etc in the years to come. We hope to enter it in the 2007 Stampede Parade so that it is seen across the nation.
Our intention in building this giant puppet is to create an icon that is relevant to Alberta's people. We are looking for people who are interested in building both the vehicle (which requires mechanics and welding) and the puppet.
There are a group of artists in the states who build kinetic sculptures for racing. In July, Christine Cook and I visited The Kinetic Sculpture Lab in Arcata, CA where artist Duane Flatmo showed us some of their work. You can check out their website at www.kineticsculpturerace.org/ to see some of their work.
If you are interested please contact us by phone 403-266-1503 or email at ifao@shaw.ca.
Thank you!
Caitlin Thompson, Community Development Officer
Calgary Animated Objects Society