The UConn Puppet Arts program is proud to announce a new Minor in Puppet Arts, which becomes available for undergraduates starting in Fall 2021. Puppetry has been taught at UConn since 1962; our BFA, MA, and MFA degrees in Puppet Arts are recognized internationally for their excellence. The newly-inaugurated Minor in Puppet Arts welcomes applications from UConn undergraduates from all academic backgrounds and trajectories who wish to enrich and enhance their education through studying the traditions and contemporary practices of puppetry.
Puppet Arts is a multi-disciplinary art form, involving aspects of acting, sculpting, scenography, directing, creative writing, and storytelling. Students of the discipline explore the relationship between and among people and things; grapple with the artistic conventions and established performance modes for gifting inanimate objects with the appearance of life; and work to find their own artistic voices.
We hope to welcome (among others):
- aspiring teachers aiming to formulate and deliver educational initiatives through puppet shows;
- future nurses and social workers who see value in engaging with patients and clients through friendly and approachable puppets;
- film animators desiring to realize their creative ideas through live puppet performances they script, design, and build;
- aspiring public historians wishing to use puppets to explain complex historical ideas;
- creative writers eager to see their stories come to vivid life before their eyes;
- engineers and sculptors capable of imagining their handiwork as living beings with personalities;
- students who are curious, creative, multi-talented, and able to think inside and outside the (puppet) box.
The possibilities for puppetry combined with other subjects really are endless!
For further information on requirements for the Minor in Puppet Arts, please see https://drama.uconn.edu/puppet-arts-minor/.
For more information, contact: Nisha Joshee Hardnett at nisha.hardnett@uconn.edu