Puppet Showplace Theater Seeks Candidates for Board of Trustees

Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity? Do you love puppetry, art, theater, and community-embedded cultural organizations? Do you have a passion for arts education and youth programming? Would you like to be part of a vibrant, creative community, support the arts, and make a difference in the lives of young people, their families, and creative professionals?

Puppet Showplace seeks candidates for our Board of Trustees, as well as our newly forming 50th Anniversary Committee. We are eager to hear from all who are interested in contributing in this vital way, and we especially seek those who wish to contribute to:

• Financial stewardship & strategy

• Fundraising

• IDEA: inclusion, diversity, equity, and access

• Building partnerships and relationships with nonprofits, businesses, neighbors, teachers and schools, and more

• Event planning and producing

• Culture building: how can we deepen relationships with the artists, audience memberships, staff, and wider community? What does it mean to be a “third space” in the lives of our community? How can we deepen the sense of belonging and welcome at Puppet Showplace?

With our 50th anniversary approaching in 2024, it’s an especially exciting time to be on this Board! We’ve just completed a strategic plan—and we need you to help us implement it! This is a rewarding opportunity to bring your expertise and passion for the transformative power of the arts to help guide our vision and the business of Puppet Showplace Theater.

We are always looking for individuals with a passion for performing arts, and we welcome applicants of all backgrounds and abilities. We are currently seeking expertise and experience in accounting or finance, law and policy, human resources, diversity and inclusion, architecture and/or construction, theater technology/equipment, fundraising, and non-profit management.

What does the Board of Trustees do?

Our trustees are volunteers who play an active role in shaping the theater’s direction by providing governance, non-profit management, and fundraising. In addition to providing oversight of Puppet Showplace Theater’s finances, human resources, ethics, and success, we provide direct support to the theater through fundraising, outreach, special projects, and participation on committees. We also have a lot of fun!

Why should I join the Board of Trustees?

As a Puppet Showplace Theater Trustee, you will:

• Have a meaningful impact on a cherished arts organization that serves people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

• Gain valuable non-profit Board and leadership experience.

• Practice and apply your skills in a new environment, with dedicated people who value your knowledge, expertise, and opinions.

• Focus on issues and projects that matter most to you.

• Shape the future of the theater at an important moment of change, and as we plan for our 50th Anniversary in 2024.

• Serve the community.

• Help Puppet Showplace Theater to cultivate imagination. 

• Meet great people and work collaboratively to ensure art, theater, and creativity are part of everyone’s childhood.

What are the requirements for becoming a trustee and how much time is involved?

Your love for the performing arts and desire to make Puppet Showplace Theater accessible to everyone is a priority!

Attendance at quarterly board meetings and monthly committee meetings (currently hybrid) is required and trustees are encouraged to take on an independent or collaborative project to complete in their own time. 

All Board members are expected to support the theater’s fundraising needs, through activities such as personal giving, crowdfunding among personal networks, planning & executing fundraising initiatives, securing grants and sponsorships,  for the organization and demonstrate fundraising leadership, we have a “give or get” requirement of all board members. Terms are three years, with the option to serve two consecutive terms.

Puppet Showplace Theater values diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and provides equal opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We encourage Board members from all backgrounds and abilities to apply.

Ready to apply?

Please email a letter of interest and a bio or resume to board@puppetshowplace.org.

About Puppet Showplace Theater

Puppet Showplace Theater is New England’s home for puppetry arts, founded in 1974 by visionary educator and puppeteer Mary Churchill. We are dedicated to presenting outstanding professional puppetry to diverse audiences through performances, workshops, and community outreach. As we look toward our theater’s 50th anniversary in 2024, we envision a vibrant, welcoming, and culturally responsive puppetry center that inspires creativity and invites participation by people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. 

Puppet Showplace Theater values diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and provides equal opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Puppet Showplace, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation as defined by Chapter 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.  As a nonprofit, the theater is governed by a volunteer board of trustees who are empowered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to act as fiduciary stewards of the organization.