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For the last 15 years, the guild has held an annual fundraiser to provide scholarship assistance to attendees to the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.   As the returns on this fundraiser have dwindled, it has become apparent to our event organizers that a new direction is in order.  Board member Donna Mark came to the table last year with an idea that a local arts group had tried last year with success; take pallets, build small chairs, ask artists to decorate them and then auction them off as a fundraiser.  

So, last May, a small but merry band of Guild members gathered for a mystery membership meeting where they were asked to help take a stack of wooden pallets, dismantle them, pull lots of nails out and build the pieces into child size decorative chairs.  The guild owes an incredible debt to Fred Thompson who, as the hours grew long, volunteered to take all the remaining materials and finish them at home in his spare time.  Following this, a number of CT-based puppeteers were approached about putting their artistic vision on the chairs.  Selecting these artists was no easy task as Connecticut is and has been home to a number of talented artists and puppeteers.   The Guild is immensely grateful to the 10 artists who donated their artistic vision and time to this project; without their participation this amazing project would not have been possible.

The wooden pallets were kindly donated by Wayne Barneschi of Scare Crew Productions, Inc.