Cincinnati Landmark
c/o Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, 4990 Glenway Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45238
Madcap Puppets Hats Off Series and Local Schools Performances
When no grant application was received by June 2023, the Foundation made a "renewal grant" for the program for which funding had been provided in the previous year. For more information about the program, see the Grants Section of the 2020-21 Dater Foundation Annual Report on this web site and/or go to the grantee organization's web site.
Program Results:
Below is a success narrative that was submitted about six months after the grant was made.
The $25,000 grant from the Charles H. Dater Foundation received by Cincinnati Landmark Productions and earmarked in support of our inimitable Madcap Puppets has been used to help us carry out a robust half-year of live puppet theater across the tri-state. We are very grateful for Dater's steadfast and generous investment in Madcap, which is finally (gleefully!) returning to pre-pandemic bookings.
Allow us to share with you some highlights from the past six months (June-December 2023):
Madcap Puppets's Booking Manager & Lead Puppeteer, Renee Stoltzfus, hired four new master puppeteers to the Madcap team in the spring '23. Renee shared why this is big, happy news, stating, "It means so much to have a full team of puppeteers. We can have 2-3 puppeteers per show, which adds to the quality and depth of the show, plus the vibe is infectious - everything's just more fun, more playful, more engaged. Also, we can book more shows, serve more children/families, and provide a more meaningful experience."
Also, Renee and CLP's executive team made the decision to focus all Madcap Puppets programming solely on the tri-state versus having a regional troupe out on the road traveling across 15 states year-round. This spread the team too thin and shortchanged our ability to serve local schools/groups as much as we wanted to. So, starting last year, Renee and her team only booked programs across a 10-county OKI region (Brown, Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren counties in Ohio; Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties in Kentucky; and Dearborn and Switzerland counties in Indiana, with service to outlying counties when possible).
Renee shared her thoughts about this in early August '23, stating, "This local focus absolutely strengthens relationships here in the tri-state and ensures we are providing quality arts immersion to students near us - keeping our impact direct and intentional. Madcap is an icon of Cincinnati history, and we feel that in the past it had been spread too far and wide. Because we aren't traveling as far now, we can say yes to more tri-state venues and schools. This has increased the rate of local and surrounding area bookings immediately and our booking number hasn't decreased at all. In fact, we're having the best June, July, and August in over five years. Go Madcap!"
Over the summer of 2023, Renee and her merry band of puppeteers served 7,105 children/parents through family programs and community shows at 49 different educational sites across Greater Cincinnati (including parks, recreation centers, libraries, and more). Across the entire six month period we're focusing on in this mid-year grant report (June-Dec 2023), Madcap served 19,176 children and parents through programs booked at 124 different schools/educational sites. In addition, Madcap presented nightly community programming at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens throughout the Festival of Lights; in total, Madcap delighted 30,000 individuals during this time. In total, Madcap had a positive and uplifting impact in the lives of nearly 50,000 children, adults, and community members of all ages!
Madcap programming received consistent, strong feedback and positive word-of-mouth and maintained a near perfect 100% rating of Excellence from teachers/educators and program participants. The most consistent feedback received included comments like "the program was high quality from beginning to end," "actors were well-rehearsed and wonderfully engaged with the students," and "the puppets came alive - how did that happen?," and, perhaps most overwhelmingly, "we loved our show!" Family/community shows also received high praise from participants, especially from multi-generational families enjoying Madcap together. Plus, parents loved that their kids wanted to keep playing puppets at home - such creative, spontaneous play is so good for children, boosting their early reading and supporting their social-emotional development.
Renee shared some of her favorites comments from some of the most recently completed surveys (from teachers, librarians, parents). Highlights included the following:
"We had a fantastic time with Madcap Puppets today! Thanks so much for joining us!"
"Thanks Madcap for helping make our Summer reading kickoff a huge success!"
"This show was a BLAST!"
"Best school assembly EVER!"
"Madcap is a MAJOR favorite around here. This year is the best yet!"
"We look forward to bringing Madcap back to the park every year."
"Our twins had puppets at home that they never played with. Then we go see Madcap Puppets and BOOM all they want to do now is put on puppet shows. We love it!"
One last highlight to share is that Renee has been hearing more often from parents sharing that they remember having Madcap Puppets at their school when they were growing up or going to a Madcap show at their library/park. The parents express such excitement that their child/children are now able to experience the joy and magic that only Madcap Puppets can bring, especially when they can enjoy a family program together. Renee shared that one family enjoyed the holiday Madcap program, Twas the Night Before Christmas, in Dec '23. The mom and dad had gone to the same grade school growing up and they looked forward to Madcap every year when all the students would go to the gym and watch the show. They knew the excitement their kids would feel and they were not disappointed. Said the dad, "Seeing the puppets brought me right back to childhood. I loved seeing Madcap when I was young. It's such a happy memory from school. And now being here and watching them with my kids and seeing their faces light up, seeing them interact with the puppets. More memories being made. Priceless!"
The $25,000 grant award from the Dater Foundation in 2023 has been instrumental to CLP's ability to implement Madcap Puppets in a cost-effective manner. The grant helps cover programmatic costs, which enables us to keep registration fees as low as possible for schools/groups wanting to book our program while also offering free-reduced fees whenever possible to schools/groups that would otherwise be unable to schedule a Madcap program.
Website:
http://www.clpshows.org Amount: $25,000
Date: July 2023
