Processional Arts Workshop

Processional Arts Workshop (PAW) works with diverse communities to create site-specific, human-powered, art parades and activations of public space. Inspired by global Carnival traditions and rituals of celebration, PAW uses pageant puppetry, ceremonial architecture, illumination, and masquerade as means to evoke local and timely themes. These works come to life through a collaborative workshop process that engages local volunteers at every stage of production, from brainstorming to final performance. Since 1998, PAW's epic puppet performances have led NY’s Village Halloween Parade. They have created site-specific works for Lincoln Center, the High Line, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Socrates Sculpture Park, the PEN World Voices Festival, Miami's Vizcaya Museum, PS21 Center for Contemporary Performance, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, and the Obama White House. Beyond established venues, they have engaged communities from the streets of Kyiv and the South Bronx to the hillsides of northern Italy and rural Texas. Many community projects seeded by PAW, such as Morningside Lights and the Mad Hatters' Parade in Hudson NY, have grown into beloved annual neighborhood traditions.