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| Established | 1987 [1] |
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| Location | 1 Royce Circle, Suite 101B, Storrs, Connecticut, United States |
| Coordinates | 41°48′17″N72°14′34″W / 41.8048°N 72.2427°W Coordinates: 41°48′17″N72°14′34″W / 41.8048°N 72.2427°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Director | John Bell |
| Owner | University of Connecticut |
| Website | bimp.uconn.edu |
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (BIMP) is a public museum of puppetry operated by the University of Connecticut and located in Storrs, Connecticut.
The Ballard houses one of the three largest puppetry collections in the United States. [2] Its permanent collection of over 2,500 puppets from all over the world includes marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets, shadow puppets, body puppets, and stage materials. In addition, the Institute houses the Puppeteers of America’s Audio-Visual Collection, which is the largest media collection (over 700 items) on puppetry in the United States. [3] These media are housed in the Kay Janney Library and Archives, which also is home to a small research collection of more than 2,500 books, scripts, manuscripts, clippings, posters, and audio-visual material related to the history of puppet theater worldwide. The Janney Library is open to visiting researchers by appointment. [4]
In addition to collecting materials to support research, the Ballard hosts frequent puppetry festivals, exhibits, and dramatic performances, most notably the 2015 National Puppetry Festival. [5] The Institute also conducts puppet-making workshops and participates in local parades and cultural events. [6]
The Institute was named after Frank W. Ballard (1929-2010), founder of UConn's Puppet Arts Program, [7] which are the first graduate and undergraduate programs in puppetry in the United States. [8] Its managing director is John Bell, a former Bread and Puppet Theater company member and an associate professor of Dramatic Arts at UConn's School of Fine Arts. [9] [10]
Previously located on UConn's Depot Campus, the Ballard was moved to the newly constructed Storrs Center in 2014. It shares space with Barnes & Noble. [11]
UConn is the only institution in the United States that offers a master's degree in puppetry. [12]
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.
The University of Connecticut is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut. It was founded in 1881.
The University of Connecticut School of Law is a public law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. The school was ranked 58th overall in the 2022 Best Law Schools ranking by U.S. News & World Report. The law school has 488 JD students and a student:faculty ratio of 5:1.
Philip E. Austin is an American economist who served as the 13th President of the University of Connecticut from October 1, 1996 to September 14, 2007. He returned to serve as interim president in May 2010 following the abrupt departure of Michael J. Hogan. Prior to UConn, Austin served as president of Colorado State University (1984–1989) and chancellor of the University of Alabama System (1989–1996).
The college football rivalry between the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island dates back to the 1890s and was born largely out of proximity, with the schools being less than 60 miles apart. The schools competed in all sports for decades as members of the Yankee Conference. Even though UConn became a charter member of the Big East in 1979, the schools continued to compete in football at the I-AA level as members of the Atlantic 10. The yearly games ended after UConn left the A-10 to move to I-A football in 2000.
The Center for Puppetry Arts, located in Atlanta, is the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. The center focuses on three areas: performance, education and museum. It is one of the few puppet museums in the world. The center is located in Midtown, the city's arts district. It was founded in 1978 by Vincent Anthony.
Albrecht Roser was a German master puppeteer based in Stuttgart, Germany.
Timothy Lagasse is an American puppeteer, puppet designer and director. He has worked on television programs and films for Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and HBO. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's Oobi, and Crash on Disney XD's Crash & Bernstein.
The UConn Huskies baseball team represents the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut in college baseball. The program is classified as NCAA Division I, and the team competes in the Big East Conference. The team is coached by Jim Penders.
Bradford Cody "Brad" Williams was an American puppeteer, designer and teacher. He died from injuries sustained in a car accident at the age of 42.
Paul Vincent Davis is an American puppeteer. For over 30 years, he served as Artist in Residence at Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the 1980s, UNIMA-USA awarded Davis five Citations of Excellence for his work.
Edwina Maud Whitney (1868–1970) was an American librarian and educator who served as the first professional College Librarian at the Connecticut Agricultural College from 1900 to 1934. She was also Assistant Professor of German from 1926 to 1934. Active in the college and community, Whitney founded the college's Women's Club in 1903 and served as president for six years. She retired as Librarian Emeritus with an honorary degree of Master of Letters. Her 100th birthday party was attended by university president Homer D. Babbidge and provost emeritus Albert E. Waugh.
Jaime Homero Arjona (1906–1967) was Professor of Romance and Classical Languages at the University of Connecticut (1932–1967), serving as chair of the Department of Foreign Languages for eighteen years (1946–1964). Constructed in 1959 and dedicated in 1968, the Jaime Homero Arjona Building in Storrs was named in his honor. The Arjona Building houses faculty offices and classrooms in the humanities and prior to 1968 was known as the Humanities Building.
Albert Nels Jorgensen was an American academic administrator who served as the seventh president of the University of Connecticut (1935–1962). Its longest-serving president and its youngest at age 36 at the time of his appointment, Jorgensen led UConn's transformation from a sleepy, unaccredited agricultural college to a major modern university. UConn came into existence via the renaming of Connecticut State College in 1939. Student enrollment rose from 844 in 1935 to 11,877 in 1962—an increase of over 1400%. Opened in 1955, the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on the university's Storrs campus was named in Jorgensen's honor. The Harriet Jorgensen Theatre is named after his wife.
Walter Campbell Stemmons (1884–1965) was an American writer who served as Professor of Journalism and University Editor at the University of Connecticut from 1918 to 1954. He wrote Connecticut Agricultural College: A History (1931), published on the 50th anniversary of UConn's founding.
Evan Hill was an American journalist and professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn), where he chaired the journalism department from 1965 to 1984. A stern but beloved teacher, Hill exerted major influence on Connecticut journalism. He mentored many editors and reporters in the region and served as a director and trustee of The Day. He authored eight books and 160 magazine articles.
Frank Willard Ballard was an American puppeteer and educator. Serving as Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut from 1956 to 1989, Ballard developed internationally renowned programs for puppetry education. Opened in 1996 and moved to a prominent new location in downtown Storrs in 2014, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry was named in his honor.
Roger Lynn Crossgrove was an American artist and educator who served as Professor of Art at the Pratt Institute and the University of Connecticut for a total of 35 years. He was best known for his monotype watercolors and photographs of the male nude.
Alexey von Schlippe (1915–1988) was a Russian-American painter who became the first full-time professor at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus in Groton. Opened in 1992, the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art is a contemporary art gallery in the Branford House.
Nafe Edmund Katter was a stage actor and director who taught theatre at the University of Connecticut from 1957 to 1997. In 2000, Katter donated $1 million to build the 241-seat Nafe Katter Theatre, which opened in 2004 on UConn's campus in Storrs.