The Arts of Life is honored to have been selected to develop an installation to be displayed in the Hall of States at the Kennedy Center in our nation’s capitol from January 12 to February 11 of next year. Two other groups were also chosen to participate, Fountain Gallery in New York, and Art Enables in D.C. The exhibition will be a testament to the Kennedy family’s long-standing commitment to disability rights and advocacy, including President Kennedy’s signing of the first major legislation to address mental illness and intellectual disabilities in 1963.

Artistic Director Ryan Shuquem and Resident Artist, performance facilitator, Emily Smith are facilitating a puppet theater installation with artists from our previous puppet show projects, including Mike Marino, Francis Roberts, David Krueger, and Stefan Harhaj. Ryan Shuquem has this to say about the project, “Our past two puppet shows, including our valuable work done with students at the Easter Seals school for children with autism, have been successful in multiple ways. Many different artists from our studio have been able to participate by contributing to backdrops, soundtracks, story ideas, dialogue, and the puppets themselves. Puppets are recognizable and attractive to people from a wide range of abilities, ages, cultures, and education. Puppets cross boundaries related to culture, language, and comprehensive skills, which make them great tools for sharing our program with others, and also good tools for advocacy, which is the theme of the exhibit. Also, using puppets, artists are able to engage with and share their work in a way that is more direct than in just about any other art media.”

We are excited to be part of this exhibit and look forward to sharing it with you. We will be documenting the process as we work and will keep you updated!