Mission Statement & Values
Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre is committed to inspiring creativity in young audiences through the art of puppetry, while also supporting emerging and established puppet artists by providing them with opportunities to share their work. We create, produce, and present live puppet shows and creative workshops and work to serve and collaborate with diverse audiences, artists, and community partners.
Community
Goat on a Boat was founded in Long Island’s East End in 2001. In 2022, both in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to address ongoing inequities across our region, we created a mobile venue: our Puppet Truck & Mobile Stage. Rather than relying on audiences to come to a fixed venue, the Puppet Truck allows us to reach diverse communities across Suffolk County (New York) and beyond.
Values
We believe that the arts make life more vibrant; help create, connect, and strengthen communities; and should be accessible to all.
We support and promote the art of puppetry by partnering with local puppeteers as well as regional, national, and international puppet companies. We encourage the development of new work and provide mentorship, accountability, and presentation opportunities for puppet artists to share their work and creative processes with the public.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion. We collaborate with puppeteers of color and offer free programming to racially and socioeconomically diverse families throughout our region.
We prioritize sustainability and consider potential economic, environmental, and social impacts on the communities we work with and serve.
We acknowledge inequities and provide free programming to young people in underserved communities
We collaborate with local artists and community-based organizations to better understand the needs of the diverse communities in our region.
We consider environmental sustainability in our day-to-day operations and when developing our programming.
We adapt in response to our audiences’ changing and varied needs and in order to ensure organizational resiliency and sustainability.