In the summer of 2024, Red Line Service artists experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity built a 12-foot Puppet-of-Care with guidance from the Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival’s Grace Needlman. The Puppet-of-Care was conceived as part of a Terra Foundation for American Art-funded partnership to think about the way that public spaces police some, while welcoming and inviting others; and to think about ways that art might be used to activate communities across class, culture and identities, so that all are welcomed in public space. The Puppet-of-Care invites us to iterate new ways of using public space so that it functions to create communities of care.

The Puppet-of-Care typically gifts tambourines, joins in community singing and dancing, shares meals, gives high fives and hugs, enjoys conversations, and welcomes new puppets into the world, when accompanied by puppet-making workshops. The Puppet-of-Care typically draws an audience of anywhere between 300-1,000 people. The Puppet-of-Care has been activated with funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness, and Exelon’s Powering the Arts Grant:

• In a public park, outside a school in Uptown, in which 20% of students are in temporary housing. September 13, 2024.
• Under a Red Line station viaduct on a cold, wintry evening. December 6, 2024.
• On an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center entitled Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close. December 21, 2024-April 6, 2025.
• Along a stretch of Douglas Boulevard in N. Lawndale for Sundays on the Boulevard. September 28, 2025 
• At a massive Block Party hosted by alt_Chicago in Austin for the launch of the 2025 Terrain Biennial. October 5, 2025.

Puppet-builders: Ravi Arupa, Tracey Christmas, Steffan Garcia, Shay Jones, MarciOkeke, Efren Paderes, and The Reverand Von Ferdinand, with guidance from GraceNeedlman.

Puppeteers: Chio Cabrera, Tracey Christmas, Carlos Guevara, Efren Paderes, Abby Palen, and The Reverend Von Ferdinand.

For more information on the Puppet-of-Care and to find out how to bring the Puppet-of-Care to your community, please contact: admin@redlineservice.org.

Thank you to the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness, and ComEd's Powering the Arts grant for supporting this project.