Upcoming events
More Puppetry!
The 2025 Festival may be over, but there are many more puppetry events to inspire you this year! Take a live online workshop from anywhere in the world, attend The Living Room Tour fundraisers in private locations around Chicago, or see the exciting new work of Chicago Puppet Lab artists in the June showcase.
in the heart of winter
Artists from Around the World
from the artistic director & founder
Welcome to our 7th Edition!
Blowing in like Chicago’s winter, the Chicago Puppet Festival brings a flurry — of puppets! With hundreds of artists and civic leaders working around the globe and here in Chicago to make it happen, we aim to fan a fire in you that inspires your vigor and heats your soul. We offer a unique and broad range of work from around our planet. You’ll find the puppet particularly adept at embodying the supernatural with such tales as Dracula or The Cabinet. Likewise the puppet holds the gravity of powerful dramas such as Life & Times of Michael K and The House by the Lake. And equally capturing a comic world in I Killed The Monster. Revel with us in the return of Chicago’s jewel: The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival!
2025 FESTIVAL partners
give us a boost
How it Happens: With Your Support
The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival exists because of the generous donations of our partners and friends. To ensure the future vitality of the Festival, please make a donation online today!
breaking news
Chicago Puppet Festival Launches Online Archive
Whether you are a puppeteer, a scholar, or a fan, you are welcome to immerse yourself in our free archive to gain inspiration, read deeply about puppetry performances, learn new skills, or appreciate a culture that may be different from your own. This archive is helping to redefine the mainstream understanding of puppetry and foster enduring cross-cultural understanding in a pluralistic world.
This project is made possible by generous funding from the Walder Foundation.
