Puppeteers of America congratulates Blair Thomas (a longtime P of A member and the current President of UNIMA-USA) and his dedicated team for launching the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival this week! The festival was founded to establish Chicago as a prominent center for the art of puppetry. This biennial Festival will present the highest quality local, national, and international puppet shows in venues across the city. This Herculean effort would not have been possible without the help of numerous Chicagoland puppeteers who helped to curate the performance programs at different venues. The festival also features dozens of collaborations with notorious Chicago cultural institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and more (read a full list on the festival website). The festival also has been getting a lot of press coverage, including features on WGNTV and on the Huffington Post. If you can make it to Chicago this week, bundle up and get ready for some amazing puppetry!