The Ballard Institute will welcome UConn Puppet Arts alumna Carole D’Agostino ’97 (SFA) to perform The Tiny Bird Show on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, at 11 a.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

The Tiny Bird Show is an interactive miniature puppet show all about the joy of backyard birds! Carole shares fun facts about each bird, including their songs, what they eat, and how you can bring them to your feeder. Small but mighty, the show is presented in the toy theater style using colorful rod puppets that charm audiences with surprising and clever ways to identify new friends! Everyone will help find a mystery bird, a pesky squirrel, and some artful insects. There’s even a special spotlight on the state bird of Connecticut! Discovery and delight await you at The Tiny Bird Show!

UConn Puppet Arts alumna Carole D’Agostino is a versatile performer, puppet builder, and presenter. She has built and designed puppets for the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Creature Shop NYC, the Kennedy Center, Disney, and Sesame Place theme parks. Her designs and creations have appeared in film and Broadway, as well as national and international puppet festivals.

Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8; Kids (12 and under): $6. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by calling 860-486-8580, or online at s.uconn.edu/bimp-ticketleap. A surcharge will be added to online purchases. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of the performance beginning at 10 a.m. All seating is general admission; specific seats cannot be reserved.

Visitors may park in the Downtown Storrs Garage, located at 33 Royce Circle. For more information about the performance or to request accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present the 2026 UConn Fall Puppet Slam on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, at 8 p.m. in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, CT 06269. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will feature new and experimental short works by professional puppeteers and performers, including New York-based puppeteer J Hann and UConn Puppet Arts alum Esme Roszel, UConn Art and Art History professor John O’Donnell, as well as new works by UConn Puppet Arts students. Mansfield’s Waldron’s Studio 88 will return once more as the Puppet Slam house band.

The 2026 UConn Fall Puppet Slam welcomes New York-based fiber artist and puppeteer J Hann and puppeteer Esme Roszel, who will perform a short excerpt from Bequeathed, a surreal, semi-autobiographical tale about the fight to unravel the gender binary. Bequeathed had its world premiere in June at Dixon Place and has received support from The Jim Henson Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York State Council on the Arts, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature work by UConn Art and Art History professor John O’Donnell, as well as new works by graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program. Funding for the slam is made possible, in part, by the Puppet Slam Network. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. Audiences are encouraged to get into the Halloween spirit by attending in costume.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free and open to the public; donations are greatly appreciated. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, CT 06269 (Directions and Parking). For more information about the performance or if you require accommodations, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

As part of its 2026 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Making Wildwood: The Craft of Stop-Motion Puppetry on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in the in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Join guest moderator Allison Paul, a UConn Associate Professor of Illustration/Animation, as she talks with UConn Puppet Arts alum Maggie Flanagan ’20 (SFA) about what it takes to work in stop-motion animation! Maggie will share thoughts on their creative journey and insights from their time at LAIKA, an independent stop-motion animation company located in Hillsboro, OR, just outside of Portland, which recently produced Wildwood, the longest stop-motion feature film to date. Maggie will discuss what it was like working behind the scenes on Wildwood and the practical skills it took to contribute to the making of the film, from starting in the Puppet Department as a mold maker and silicone caster to working on set with animators as a member of the Puppet Hospital.

Maggie Flanagan is a puppeteer and stop-motion puppet fabricator hailing from Laconia, NH. They work in Portland, OR, most recently wrapping production on LAIKA’s new feature-length stop motion film Wildwood. Outside of their work in stop-motion, they teach puppet-building workshops at conventions around the country and run a small business specializing in custom character puppets. Maggie is a proud alum of the UConn Puppet Arts MFA program.

­­­This event is generously sponsored by The Straighter Fund, UConn Art and Art History, and UConn Digital Media and Design.

Admission to this forum is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. For more information or to request an accommodation, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.