Arts Tour Minnesota

Z Puppets’ 2013 tour fulfilled the originally stated outcome of providing northern Minnesota families with a quality arts experience and creative approach to stress relief through our puppet, rock, yoga adventure Monkey Mind Pirates. We adapted the production to fit the needs of informal community venues by scaling down the narrative, sets and technical effects while increasing the interactivity. We presented this new Monkey Mind Pirates Family Yoga Party at all nine branches of the Kitchigami Library System, Duluth’s Twin Ports Bridge Festival and at Down Up North (Duluth affiliate of Down Syndrome Association Minnesota). To measure the impact of this new show, we asked audience members to fill out post-show surveys. As an incentive, we offered to enter each completed survey in a drawing for a prize (a Monkey Mind Pirates CD). Respondents indicated a high understanding and usefulness of the key messages of our Quest for Calm and rated high levels of engagement and enjoyment of the show. 2: We worked with Down Syndrome Association Minnesota Duluth affiliate, Down Up North to provide three Monkey Mind Pirates playful mindfulness family workshops. The series began with a free public performance of Monkey Mind Pirates Family Yoga Party at the end of Down Up North’s popular annual picnic. At the end of each workshop, we asked the participants to share with us how they anticipated using Z Puppets’ characters, metaphors, music, and mindfulness methods to address stress in their families. The families rated the usefulness high because of the multi-modal approach combining music, puppets, story, and yoga. They noted that the activities worked best for the youth participants with Down Syndrome (ages 4-6) when the emphasis was on physical and tangible creative activity vs. discussion.