Retired Muppets Will Move to Atlanta

[MuppetNewsHound]

Hello,

Check out all the details:


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/ar...=1&oref=slogin

Brian

[redBoobergurl]

Wow, that's interesting. I think I should plan a trip to Atlanta.

[spcglider]

Even if the Muppets don't move to Atlanta for one reason or another, I highly recommend that you visit the Center For Puppetry Arts! They have a pretty amazing museum of puppets. And not just Muppets...they have an original Wayland Flowers Madame puppet and quite a few other famous socks as well. And the great one? They have a full Skeksis puppet on display! Its so amazing to see it up close. The detail is phenomenal. Its sad to know he's breaking down because he's made from foam latex (you just cannot STOP it from breaking down over time) but they have him in a light and temperature controlled case so the damage is being slowed as much as possible and still allow people to view him.

Anyway, its good to hear the news. And I urge you all to think about making a donation to the Henson wing when it comes up!

-Gordon

[Ilikemuppets]

Sounds great! I hop everything goes well for them!

[vonHinezmeyer]

[SIZE=3]And many more Muppets to follow. The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta to become “the definitive collection” of Jim Henson’s puppets. The official announcement was made at a press conference yesterday. [/SIZE]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg14o0-5X7Q

[Buck-Beaver]

Worth noting that the next PofA Festival in 2009 and some kind of international puppetry festival (not sure...is it UNIMA?) will be taking place at The Center For Puppetry Arts and Georgia Tech too. Sadly, it looks like this new wing of the Center won't be ready until 2012.

[Traveling Matt]

Here's the news on the Center's website, including the press release:

http://puppet.org/museum/henson.shtml

[Traveling Matt]

And here's another article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

===

Muppets on the move to Atlanta center

By KIRSTEN TAGAMI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/25/2007

The original Ernie from Sesame Street and other early versions of the world-famous Muppets now spend their days in a climate-controlled warehouse in New Jersey.

But the family of the late Muppet creator Jim Henson plans to move Ernie and about 300 of his friends to a permanent new home in Atlanta - part of a greatly expanded world puppetry museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Center officials will announce the planned Jim Henson Wing - scheduled to open in 2012 - at a news conference today. The Henson family gift will include some of Henson's storyboards, props, sketches, films and posters, and will be the definitive collection honoring the pioneering puppeteer, said his daughter Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation.

The gift is contingent on the puppetry center raising enough money to build the new museum, she said. Cheryl Henson said she will make a donation toward the construction of a new museum, but that the center would need to raise most of the funds from other sources.

The Henson wing is expected to be between 7,500 and 10,000 square feet and take up half the museum, said center spokeswoman Amy Ellis.
Jim Henson had a long history with the Center for Puppetry Arts. He and one of his best-loved Muppets, Kermit the Frog, cut the ribbon when the center opened in 1978 at 18th and Spring streets.

He was the honorary chairman of the center's 1987 capital fund drive to raise $3 million and also performed at the Center's 10th anniversary.
A historic Kermit puppet will be on display in the center's atrium starting today, followed by a larger exhibit this fall featuring other puppets that were performed by Henson, including the Swedish Chef and Rowlf.

Cheryl Henson said the family had been collecting artifacts with the goal of someday building a museum to honor their late father, who succumbed to an aggressive form of pneumonia in 1990 at the age of 53.

But when the Henson family learned that the Center for Puppetry Arts was considering moving or expanding its Midtown performance and museum space, they decided to bring the collection to the center, Cheryl Henson said.

The puppetry center received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year to explore building a new museum that would be much larger than its current 3,800-square-foot exhibit. At the same time, the center is considering moving from its current home in a former elementary school.

The center owns the property in Midtown, where land values have soared. Founder and executive director Vince Anthony declined to say when the center might make a decision about a new location but said he wants to stay in Midtown's arts district.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/arts/co...nson_0725.html

[RKUNKLER]

i sent an email to the center for puppetry arts saying that i was thinking that you should build an exact replica of the muppet Theater to house the Muppets and the stage could have the pigs in Space set with Link Hogthrob, First Mate Miss Piggy, and Dr Strangepork. The Muppets can be all throughout the theater. Here is info on the theater at http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_Theater. What do you think. The person responded saying Great Idea, I’ll pass it on to the powers that be! Im so glad that they like my idea. What do you think. If you want you can email her at susankinney@puppet.org.

[IgorPonweed]

Wow! Sounds better than the UVA exhibit!

[Drtooth]

I thought they sent retired Muppets to France against their will to play new characters....

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/5%2C_Rue_S%C3%A9same

[zns]

This is just my guess, but I think that the reason the exhibit will not be ready until 2012 because some of the puppets that they hope to put on display will be used for the traveling exhibit, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World". But then again, that is only my guess.

[zns]

I have only one question. When the exhibit opens in 2012, will the Muppets be on permanent display?

[muppetperson]

Does anybody have a pic of Kermit in the Atrium of the Museum?

[zns]

Well, it's just about the middle of September now. They said that and the Swedish Chef would be on display around this time. Has anyone seen the exhibit yet?