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 hands out 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, AbbyPalen, and The Reverend Von Ferdinand.

For more information on the Puppet-of-Care, please contact: admin@redlineservice.org.