The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival was founded to establish Chicago as a prominent center for the art of puppetry. This biennial Festival will present the highest quality local, national, and international puppet shows in venues across the city. Invited artists will lead workshops, public presentations and talks as an integral part of the Festival offerings. Additionally, the Festival will host the Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium devoted to the advancement of scholarship and research in the field of puppetry.