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Mum Puppettheatre Provides Free Arts Education to Local Philadelphia Schools

For Immediate Release: April 12, 2001

Philadelphia, PA - Mum Puppettheatre is proud to announce the commencement of its new outreach program "Project 19123". Project 19123 is designed to assist schools in Mum's immediate neighborhood to meet the benchmarks in arts education established by the Pennsylvania Board of Education at no cost to the schools. Mum Puppettheatre's outreach program will help to insure that students will be able to realize their creative potential. Current participating schools include Bodine High School, Stoddart-Fleischer Middle School, General Philip Kearny Elementary School,and Spring Garden Elementary School. This program is generously funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and contributions from Mum Puppettheatre's members.

"The programs and classes offered at each school by Mum arts educators will be tailored according to the specific need assessed by the teachers and principals for each school. Overall there has been great interest from the teachers for Teaching Artists to educate the students in theatre arts, puppet manipulation, and mostly body language and communication without words," said Melanie Lichtenstein, Mum Puppettheatre's Education Coordinator.

Most classes will culminate with the students creating their own theatrical production or art piece. Teaching artists from Mum Puppettheatre work with the schools, art and academic teachers to help integrate art into education. In the case of Spring Garden Elementary, with no existing arts teacher the 19123 Project fills a huge gap for the school. At Stoddart-Fleischer, 8th grade history students will be creating a piece using puppetry and dance to illustrate the three divisions of government. Bodine's students are creating giant puppets for their international day fair to represent the various styles of puppetry from around the world. Interested schools or teachers in the 19123 zip code are encouraged to contact Mum about possible arts education programs for their school at 215.925.8686.

Mum Puppettheatre is the only theatre between Vermont and Atlanta dedicated solely to puppetry. Founded in 1985 as a wordless touring company using puppets and masks, Mum Puppettheatre combines powerful visual images with music and the imagination to create a unique theatrical experience for audiences of all ages and languages. To date, Mum Puppettheatre has earned three Citations of Excellence from Union Internationale de la Marionette and six Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. In 1999, Mum Puppettheatre won the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Pennsylvania Department of Education Best Practices Award for its education and residency programs in schools.

For more information please call 215.925.8686.

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