Puppetry Arts Institute

To preserve and promote the art of puppetry though education and entertainment for all ages. We are an organization for the promotion of all aspects of puppetry and accomplish our mission by: Featuring ongoing displays of hundreds of international puppets, the Hazelle Rollins Museum, and yearly changing exhibits in our main room. Current main exhibit is "Bill Solsner's Talking Puppet Heads"Offering puppet making workshops for all ages using vinyl puppet heads that are the remaining inventory of the Hazelle Puppet Factory that was in Kansas City for 40 years.  This factory was the largest in the world that exclusively made puppets.  After painting a puppet head and having it clothed, participants have the opportunity to see how to perform with these hand puppets on a special stage. Day cares, schools, tourists, and families come to PAI for this special experience.  1,450 kindergartners from the Independence School district visit PAI to paint puppets and have a show on citizenship.Presenting monthly puppet shows performed by our in-house puppeteers, and guest professional puppeteers from all over the US.  Our shows feature a variety of styles of puppetry (hand, rod, shadow, marionette, and masks) to let our audiences experience different styles of puppet performances.  We also offer "on the road" puppet shows to perform at day cares and preschools.Collaborating with other organizations to perform puppet shows at additional venues. To produce our Lewis and Clark  and Trouble on the Border marionette shows we worked in collaboration with the National Frontier Trails Museum providing an entertaining way to learn about the Corps of Discovery and the Border War in our area.Providing a puppetry research library and offering workshops for teachers.    Providing a family friendly environment that fosters creativity and artistic experiences for children in this technology-focused generation.  In addition, adults find our "grown-up" shows and events entertaining and culturally enriching.