Morris to host Twin Cities puppet artists

The Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance (PRCA) and the Morris Wetlands Management (WMD) District recently received an $11,770 in a grant from the Lake Region Arts Council.

The grant is made possible by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

The grant funds will bring puppet and mask artists Esther Ouray and Julie Kastigar, from St. Paul, to work with the annual PRCA Prairie Camp teachers, students and the surrounding community in June of 2012. Prairie Camp (June 11 – 23, 2012) is an all day art camp for children grades 1 – 6 and takes place in Morris. The grant supported project will culminate in a “Puppet Pageant”, where the students will use the puppets and masks that they have built to tell a story about the prairie wetlands environment. The final event will be held at the Morris WMD on Saturday June 23 at 1 pm.

The PRCA and the Morris WMD will be reaching out to community members within a 30 – 40 mile radius to participate in puppet and mask making workshops prior to the pageant, so that as many people as possible throughout the region may participate. Details of the deadline to sign up, time commitments, requirements and associated costs will be coming out soon. Informational brochures will be sent home with school children and there will be more information on the PRCA website http://www.prairierenaissance.org , on the PRCA and Morris WMD Facebook page, and in local newspaper and radio advertisements. Anyone familiar with the work of the Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theatre of Minneapolis/St. Paul http://hobt.org/ already knows that this will be a fantastic experience for young and old.

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