The Puppet Hub + Exhibitions
Your Puppetry Destination for Food, Drink, and Exhibitions!
Come check out our Pop Up Puppet Hub on the 4th floor of the Fine Arts Building. Bursting with site-specific activities, it’s the perfect place to relax between shows, meet up with friends and make some new ones! Enjoy Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe as well as two special exhibitions: Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su, in which the artist shares her various puppetry experiments and lessons she's learned along the way; and Puppetry Under the Sea, a display of over 20 puppets that were designed and built by the Chicago Puppet Studio, for Drury Lane Theatre's production of "The Little Mermaid." FREE, family friendly (for all ages).
You can also venture just a few blocks north to the Chicago Cultural Center for another free exhibition co-presented by the Festival and DCASE: Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close (more info below).
Hub Hours:
The Hub opens Thursday, Jan 16 with these hours:
9 am – 7:30 pm (closed MLK Day Jan 20)
10 am – 5 pm on Sundays
Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe Hours:
Take a break between the many Puppet Hub shows and exhibits in this puppet-inspired pop-up cafe inside the Fine Arts Building. Meet fellow puppetry enthusiasts for coffee, tea, winter soups and baked treats.
Cafe opens Friday, Jan 17 with these hours:
Friday, January 17: 10 am – 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 18: 10 am – 7:30 pm
Sunday, January 19: 10 am – 4 pm
Wednesday January 22: 10 am – 7 pm
Thursday, January 23: 10 am – 7 pm
Friday, January 24: 10 am – 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 25: 10 am – 7:30 pm
Sunday, January 26: 10 am – 4 pm
Closed January 15-16 and January 20-21
Puppet Hub Exhibitions
Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su
Presented by Chicago Puppet Fest
Fine Arts Building Studio 433, 4th floor
In this exhibit, Myra Su shares her various puppetry experiments (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and lessons she’s learned along the way.
Puppetry Under the Sea
Presented by Chicago Puppet Fest
Fine Arts Building Studio 433, 4th floor
Inspired by coastal parades and spectacles, over 20 puppets that were designed and built by the Chicago Puppet Studio, for Drury Lane Theatre’s production of “The Little Mermaid”, will be on display.
Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition
Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close
Co-presented by DCASE and Chicago Puppet Fest
Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Ave. Galleries
78 E. Washington Ave.
Hours: Daily 10 am – 4:45 pm
Curated by Grace Needlman + Will Bishop
Produced by Elise Butterfield
Coordinated by Ashwaty Chennat
Chicago is home to a rich and growing ecology of puppet artists whose work bridges disciplines and communities of makers. This sampling of puppets by local artists challenges expectations about puppetry and inspires the public to tell their own stories. Take the rare chance to look closely at sculptural works usually only seen in motion at a distance. Celebrate material and formal invention, trace networks of collaboration, and discover some of the exciting questions and possibilities that are animating Chicago puppet artists today. This exhibition runs from Dec 21, 2024 – April 6, 2025
