Maker Faire Bay Area 2023
Giant Puppets Save the World
Home: California, United States
For Marker Faire 2023, Giant Puppets Save the World will bring a menagerie of giant flying puppets, featuring creative depictions of Anna's Hummingbird, a Burrowing Owl, and two Monarch Butterflies. The puppets are made by artist and puppeteer, Toni Mikulka-Chang, out of silk, reed, and bamboo. They will create a mini puppet forest for attendees to walk through and under as they rest in their heavy duty umbrella stands when not flying out and about through the Faire. Attendees may pick up the puppets and fly them around and practice flapping their wings and experience their delightful artistic biomimicry in giant form. Giant Puppets Save the World seeks to bring awareness to important species and demonstrates that in teamwork and collaboration, we can create incredible awe-inspiring magic.
https://giantpuppetssavetheworld.com/
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Maker
Giant Puppets Save the World
Larger than life interactive performance art featuring spectacle entertainment with symbolic meaning enacted with giant puppetry, stilt walking, kinetic art, props, enormous silk flags, bubble art, and a live marching band.
https://giantpuppetssavetheworld.com/What Inspired You to Make This?
Giant Puppets Save the World is a demonstration that allows us to see that the only way to accomplish anything amazing on this planet is by working together collaboratively. Often called the pied piper of her family, Founder and Director, Toni Mikulka-Chang started theater at the age of 5 in local community productions in her hometown of Suffern, NY. She excelled in theater and lacrosse athletics in high school where her passion for community arts and teamwork was cemented. Toni studied Anthropology and Art at the State University of New York and immediately went on to work for six years in nonprofit development for the arts, including the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Hospice, and PBS (where she even won the PBS Development Award for Special Events). She made a career change in 2010 when she was accepted to the Bread and Puppet Theater Company, in Glover, Vermont, and subsequently went to work in set design and puppet performance in NYC. In 2011, she received a grant from the Fremont Arts Council to start Giant Puppets Save the World in Seattle. Toni apprenticed with giant puppet artists and taught workshops for the Seattle Solstice Parade and the Procession of the Species Parade in Olympia, WA, after which she followed creative pursuits to NYC with a performance art company as a resident Puppet Master. Longing for the West Coast culture, she settled back in California in Winter of 2012 to work at Habitot Children’s Museum in Berkeley as a puppeteer teacher and nonprofit manager. In the Bay Area she finds a robust artist community with many puppetry partners and leads theater projects, puppet performances, and teaches. She performs hand puppetry shows with her creative musical partner CelloJoe and her giant puppetry is often featured at major events and festivals. Giant Puppets Save the World has been featured at the following events: City of San Leandro Cherry Festival 2023, Genentech Earth Day Celebration, South SF, 2023, DayBreaker Ferry Building, San Francisco, 2022, Montclair Village Association Village Plaza Fundraiser, Oakland, 2022, Beer, Wine, and Music Festival in Montclair, 2022, Genentech, Company Picnic, 2022, 4th Street Shopping District Association Holiday Parade, Berkeley, 2022 & 2021, Holiday TuneYards Tour at LA Philharmonic 2020, Oregon Country Fair 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015 & 2014, Center for Biological Diversity – Nancy Pelosi Petition Delivery Parade to Protect Endangered Species Act 2019 in SF, Visit California and Visit USA Annual Conference 2019, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Production of “Magic Flute” 2019, Nike’s “Just Do It” 30th Anniversary 2018, Facebook HQ 2018, High Sierra Music Festival 2019, 2018, 2017 & 2016, Bioneers 2017 & 2016, San Francisco Peace In The Park 2017, Oregon Eclipse Global Gathering 2017, San Francisco Sunday Streets 2017, Daybreaker 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, Cisco Conference 2016, SF Gay Pride Parade 2016, MakerFaire 2016, San Francisco Botanical Gardens’ 75th Anniversary 2015, Burning Man 2017, 2016, 2015 & 2014, Symbiosis 2015, Lightning in a Bottle 2015 & 2014, Lucidity 2014, Berkeley Sunday Streets 2013, Gaia Festival 2012, Seattle Solstice Parade 2011, Procession of the Species Parade 2011, Bread and Puppet 2010, plus many more corporate and privately sponsored events.
