There’s been some exciting news for the Center for Puppetry Arts over the past few months. I will admit I haven’t visited the center since my elementary field trip days but am definitely scoping out tickets to help support this amazing local arts center.

Scene One
Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts was named a laureate of the 2008 Microsoft Education Award on September 9.

Established in 2001, The Tech Awards recognize 25 laureates in five universal categories: education, equality, environment, economic development and health. These laureates have developed new technological solutions or innovative ways to use existing technologies to significantly improve the lives of people around the world.

The Center for Puppetry Arts were recognized with this award for their Distance Learning Program, based in Atlanta, which improves education quality for rural and low-income communities, as well as those with special needs, by delivering arts lessons through interactive video-conferencing.

Scene Two
The Henson family announced in 2007 that they had chosen the Center for Puppetry Arts as the home for their definitive collection of Jim Henson’s creations. The collection consists of somewhere between 500 and 700 puppets, props, scenic elements, posters, sketches, drawings, films and videos. It will be housed in a newly proposed Jim Henson Wing, to be included in the center’s new museum space, scheduled to open in 2011 in Atlanta.

Curtain Call
There are performances, exhibits and workshops throughout the month of December at the Center for Puppetry Arts that are fun for both adults and children. It’s definitely worth checking out as is the look into their collections on their Virtual Exhibit.