The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles seeks puppetry acts for its annual Puppet Festival on Sunday, April 27, 2025 from 12:00–5:00 pm. This day-long, campus-wide festival celebrates Jewish culture, imagination, and storytelling and will be presented to family audiences, primarily children ages 2–8 and their parents.   

The festival will feature a wide range of puppetry, from small to large scale, using diverse media and drawing on a variety of artistic and cultural traditions.  
 
General attendance across the daylong festival is approximately 1,600 visitors.

About the Skirball

For the Skirball Cultural Center, which opened in 1996, the performing arts serve as a vehicle to explore and forge connections among individuals, cultures, and communities in engaging, inclusive, and memorable ways.   
   
We welcome people of all communities and generations to participate in programming that celebrates discovery and hope, fosters human connections, and calls upon each of us to help build a better world.   
   
Rooted in storytelling traditions central to Jewish culture and many others, the Skirball celebrates puppetry as one of the most powerful means of sharing stories and building community.  

Seeking Five Types of Experiences:

1. Mainstage
   1. Proscenium-style theatrical stage shows for an audience of 100–350 running approximately 20–35 minutes, performed two or three times throughout the day (day-of allotted set up time is 3 hours and strike time is 3 hours).
2. Midsized
   • Black box–style theatrical stage shows for an audience of 50–100 running approximately 15–30 minutes, performed two or three times throughout the day (day-of allotted set up time 1.5 hours and strike time is 1.5 hours).
3. Pageant puppets
   • To stroll or perform among an audience on our large outdoor courtyard.
4. Pop-up small scale outdoor and indoor performances
   • Surprise puppet moments that can last from 5–15 minutes as a delightful surprise with little to no tech/AV. 
5. Immersive
   • Indoor or outdoor audience experiences related to or involving puppetry (day-of allotted set up time 3 hours and strike time 3 hours).

*Please note that many performance spaces will be outdoors or in spaces that are not traditional theater venues. Large scale stage productions that need cueing and specialty lighting will not be possible. 

What We’re Looking For:

• Puppetry acts that represent diverse artistic styles and cultures. The Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equity, and we’re particularly interested in acts that represent the diversity of our community.   
• Stories told through puppetry that build on the Skirball’s mission of connecting people across cultures, examining history and identity, celebrating diversity, and making the world a better place by caring for the earth and one another.  
• Acts that tell original stories or, like the award-winning Noah’s Ark exhibition, provide a new take on folktales or are creative re-imaginings of culturally significant events or stories.
• Innovative acts that tell stories with a fresh interpretation of puppetry.  
• Family-friendly acts that engage audiences across generations.  
• Acts that can be performed in traditional and nontraditional performance spaces in the daytime like outdoor patios, museum galleries, or public spaces (priority may be given to performances that do not require significant technical support).
• Immersive experiences for visitors that are not puppet performances but relate to puppetry and the themes of storytelling, imagination, welcome, and community.

What We’re Not Looking For:

• Performances geared toward adults (e.g. depictions of sex, violence, or storylines and situations that might be too sophisticated for young children).   
• Performances with significant technical needs, requiring elaborate sets, lighting, or sound.  

Stipend:

Each participating group will be offered a stipend, marketing opportunities, and amenities on the day of performance.

How to Apply:

Send an e-mail introducing yourself, including the name of the proposed piece, along with the following:   

1. A brief description of the performance/experience, stating which type of act: Mainstage, Midsized, Pageant, Pop-up, or Immersive  
2. Links to video clips and/or high-res images of the performance/experience  
3. A list of the technical requirements and number of performers  
4. Your contact info  
5. A résumé and at least two references  
6. Any other work samples you’d like to share  

Send your message to familyprograms@skirball.org with the subject line PUPPET FEST 25.   

Deadline for Submissions

January 3, 2025  

If we are interested in setting up an in-person interview/audition, we will contact you after receiving your materials.