Fools’ Court members
The FestiFools steering committee (dubbed the “Fools’ Court”) meets throughout the year and obsesses over how to make FestiFools as awesome as possible. We raise money, secure the necessary permits, publicize the event, build partnerships with local organizations, recruit puppet builders, bring pizza and coffee to the studio — in short, we keep the hive buzzing!
- Mark Tucker (Creative Director)
- Shoshana Hurand (Co-Director)
- Lisa Bee, Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea
- Jesse Bernstein, A2 Chamber of Commerce
- Shari Brown, Original Street Art Fair
- Nate Chmielewski
- Lisa Herbert Borgsdorf
- Geetha Iyer
- Rich Klarman, TestGuru: Private Law Tutoring
- Linda Lombardini, LindaLom.com
- Ryan Munson
- Tim Petersen, Arboretum Ventures
- Mary Rea
- Tamara Real, Arts Alliance
- Cathy Roglitz
- Jeri Rosenberg
- Sultan Sharrief
- Colleen Sherman, Detroit Public Television
- Amy St. Amour, U-M Dept. of Family Medicine
- Sara Sterkenberg
- Margie Teall, Ann Arbor City Council
- Nick Tobier
Some other contributing artists
Master puppet artists, Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles, are 2008 artists-in-residence at U-M. They worked directly with students and community volunteers to help produce this year’s FestiFools extravanganza. We hope they’ll share their talent and encouragement with us again next year. Thanks guys! Learn more about them and their work at the Superior Concept Monsters website.
Nick Tobier is an Assistant Professor at the U-M School of Art & Design. During the Winter Term, he has his students build FestiFools puppets — and, of course, march them around downtown! — as part of their coursework. Since these pieces are designed and built at the Art School (rather than at the FestiFools studio), there’s tremendous anticipation and excitement on the day of the event: All the puppets converge on the same physical space for the very first time. Wow!
Myra Klarman is the Official Photographer for FestiFools. She documents the puppet-making process and also the event itself. Her images really capture the energy and vibe of what we Fools are all about, and we’re extremely grateful for her efforts. Check out her blog entry on FestiFools 2007.
U-M undergrad researchers
FestiFools is extremely fortunate to have had the involvement of two UROP participants: Lauren Hantz and Meredith Hoffman. Lauren and Meredith collected and organized tons of information on street art traditions, puppet (and parade float) fabrication, street festivals around the world, etc. The fruits of their labor are available on our street art resources page, which you can use as a jumping-off point for further investigation.
©2007–2008 Street Theater Art Project (an initiative of the University of Michigan). All rights reserved.
