Latest news with #Statler
Sydney Morning Herald
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Other places would be delighted to host Paddington's puppet show. No strings attached
Until now, Muppet Show balcony critics Statler and Waldorf had the puppetry quips market cornered. 'Well, they say all good things must come to an end,' Waldorf once remarked as Kermit wrapped up another zany episode. 'What's that got to do with this show?' Statler replied. Cue self-congratulatory laughter. It seems puppet angst lives on – at least it appears so in parts of downtown Paddington. Some residents of the leafy inner Sydney suburb have raised written concerns with the City of Sydney Council over a planned puppet performance at Paddington Reservoir Gardens. The performance, which includes a four-metre puppet called Fauna, explores 'themes of climate change and deforestation' and promotes conservation. The production firm has a record of educational programs and installations in museums and galleries across Australia and New Zealand. According to a selection of the reported grievances, the proposed Paddington puppet show might cause: 'health and sleep disturbances, potential noise impacts, rowdy crowd behaviour, light spill into homes and crime'. Not since the infamous US television show Crank Yankers, featuring impudent prank-calling puppets, has the world of marionettes promised so much while angering and confounding so many. It's enough to raise even the staunchest eyebrows, a la Parker from the Thunderbirds. 'Yes, m'lady.' Loading From the balconies of the comparatively culture-starved reaches of regional NSW, Paddington's problem looks like a solution. The puppet show is part of the City of Sydney's Art and About festival. 'Expect art in any corner of our city, at any time' the blurb reads. The promise of the unexpected, for some in Paddington at least, looks as welcome as the Spanish Inquisition. Here's an idea. How about cities on the edge, literally and figuratively, formally partner with Sydney in something wonderfully original? Imagine an Art and About festival that was truly mobile. Think Uncle Max bringing a puppet theatre to the children von Trapp in the wilds of prewar Austria. Even the Nazis, Marta's sluggish set changes, or men drinking beer with the foam afloat, couldn't stop The Lonely Goatherd: 'Layee odl, layee odl layee-oo'! Imagine taking puppets, unwanted in Paddington, to areas comparatively starved of arts investment. Areas like the Central Coast, the Illawarra or the NSW Central West contend with government arts investment levels, per capita, well below those enjoyed in the eastern suburbs, which has received 23.5 per cent of total federal government arts funding over the past decade.
Sydney Morning Herald
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Paddington locals should open hearts and minds to Fauna the puppet
Until now, Muppet Show balcony critics Statler and Waldorf had the puppetry quips market cornered. 'Well, they say all good things must come to an end,' Waldorf once remarked as Kermit wrapped up another zany episode. 'What's that got to do with this show?' Statler replied. Cue self-congratulatory laughter. It seems puppet angst lives on – at least it appears so in parts of downtown Paddington. Some residents of the leafy inner Sydney suburb have raised written concerns with the City of Sydney Council over a planned puppet performance at Paddington Reservoir Gardens. The performance, which includes a four-metre puppet called Fauna, explores 'themes of climate change and deforestation' and promotes conservation. The production firm has a record of educational programs and installations in museums and galleries across Australia and New Zealand. According to a selection of the reported grievances, the proposed Paddington puppet show might cause: 'health and sleep disturbances, potential noise impacts, rowdy crowd behaviour, light spill into homes and crime'. Not since the infamous US television show Crank Yankers, featuring impudent prank-calling puppets, has the world of marionettes promised so much while angering and confounding so many. It's enough to raise even the staunchest eyebrows, a la Parker from the Thunderbirds. 'Yes, m'lady.' Loading From the balconies of the comparatively culture-starved reaches of regional NSW, Paddington's problem looks like a solution. The puppet show is part of the City of Sydney's Art and About festival. 'Expect art in any corner of our city, at any time' the blurb reads. The promise of the unexpected, for some in Paddington at least, looks as welcome as the Spanish Inquisition. Here's an idea. How about cities on the edge, literally and figuratively, formally partner with Sydney in something wonderfully original? Imagine an Art and About festival that was truly mobile. Think Uncle Max bringing a puppet theatre to the children von Trapp in the wilds of prewar Austria. Even the Nazis, Marta's sluggish set changes, or men drinking beer with the foam afloat, couldn't stop The Lonely Goatherd: 'Layee odl, layee odl layee-oo'! Imagine taking puppets, unwanted in Paddington, to areas comparatively starved of arts investment. Areas like the Central Coast, the Illawarra or the NSW Central West contend with government arts investment levels, per capita, well below those enjoyed in the eastern suburbs, which has received 23.5 per cent of total federal government arts funding over the past decade.
The Age
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Paddington locals should open hearts and minds to Fauna the puppet
Until now, Muppet Show balcony critics Statler and Waldorf had the puppetry quips market cornered. 'Well, they say all good things must come to an end,' Waldorf once remarked as Kermit wrapped up another zany episode. 'What's that got to do with this show?' Statler replied. Cue self-congratulatory laughter. It seems puppet angst lives on – at least it appears so in parts of downtown Paddington. Some residents of the leafy inner Sydney suburb have raised written concerns with the City of Sydney Council over a planned puppet performance at Paddington Reservoir Gardens. The performance, which includes a four-metre puppet called Fauna, explores 'themes of climate change and deforestation' and promotes conservation. The production firm has a record of educational programs and installations in museums and galleries across Australia and New Zealand. According to a selection of the reported grievances, the proposed Paddington puppet show might cause: 'health and sleep disturbances, potential noise impacts, rowdy crowd behaviour, light spill into homes and crime'. Not since the infamous US television show Crank Yankers, featuring impudent prank-calling puppets, has the world of marionettes promised so much while angering and confounding so many. It's enough to raise even the staunchest eyebrows, a la Parker from the Thunderbirds. 'Yes, m'lady.' Loading From the balconies of the comparatively culture-starved reaches of regional NSW, Paddington's problem looks like a solution. The puppet show is part of the City of Sydney's Art and About festival. 'Expect art in any corner of our city, at any time' the blurb reads. The promise of the unexpected, for some in Paddington at least, looks as welcome as the Spanish Inquisition. Here's an idea. How about cities on the edge, literally and figuratively, formally partner with Sydney in something wonderfully original? Imagine an Art and About festival that was truly mobile. Think Uncle Max bringing a puppet theatre to the children von Trapp in the wilds of prewar Austria. Even the Nazis, Marta's sluggish set changes, or men drinking beer with the foam afloat, couldn't stop The Lonely Goatherd: 'Layee odl, layee odl layee-oo'! Imagine taking puppets, unwanted in Paddington, to areas comparatively starved of arts investment. Areas like the Central Coast, the Illawarra or the NSW Central West contend with government arts investment levels, per capita, well below those enjoyed in the eastern suburbs, which has received 23.5 per cent of total federal government arts funding over the past decade.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate Holocaust education bill dies in the House -- again
Apr. 11—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — The Legislature is plowing through bills as it heads to close of session midnight Saturday, but the Senate bill to require Holocaust education in the public schools will once again remain on the shelf—for the third year in a row. House Education looked at SB 54 last week but never advanced it to the floor. Education vice-chair Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, told The Dominion Post on Friday, "We did not take it up because after talking with the Department of Education, it is already being taught in different grade levels in the school systems across the state today." The bill says, "In collaboration with and utilizing guidance from the West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education ... all public schools located within this state shall give age-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust, the systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, and an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person." Such instruction would not be offered before sixth grade. The issue Statler raised was also raised in Senate Education in March, where Sen. Craig Hart, R-Mingo, questioned the necessity of the bill, given that Holocaust education appears in other content standards. Committee chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, said then that while current standards call for teaching on the Holocaust at some point, the bill would change code to make sure it is required somewhere from grades 6-12. Several people who championed the bill expressed disappointment at its demise. Lisa Hildebrand is a Boone County teacher and advocates for the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia. She testified to House Education when it held its hearing on the bill. She told the delegates that she grew up in a diverse culture in the Philadelphia suburbs. But in Boone County she sees a lack of diversity, she said. "With that lack of diversity is a lack of understanding, even some lack of tolerance." Those students don't have the opportunity to interact with others or trawl outside their area, she said. She brought Rabbi Victor Urecki, of Charleston, to school several times, and for some this was their first opportunity to meet a Jew. She received a grant to go to Poland, she said, where she met with a survivor, and visited Auschwitz and other areas. "When I came back from there, I made it my mission to have Holocaust education be put in schools. I think it would benefit everybody." Thursday evening, discussing the bill's demise, she told The Dominion Post, "I just cannot fathom why the House chairs have a problem with the bill. Our kids deserve to know how to deal with antisemitism and associated behaviors. The not-in-my-backyard mentality is old. Our state has a serious population problem. Brain-drain. They leave and are unprepared for what is seen on college campuses and city streets." The state education standards are limited in their requirement to teach the Holocaust, she said. "I've been a teacher for about a decade, and nowhere are there sources for educators to teach how to combat antisemitism and related behaviors. This bill offers resources to help educators achieve this goal." The committee held the hearing on SB 54 but never put it back on its agenda for markup and passage. Laurent Levy is an emeritus member of the Holocaust Education Commission. He told The Dominion Post, "Obviously, we are extremely disappointed by the failure of the House Education Committee to even take up this bill, which passed the Senate unanimously. This marks at least the third time that the Senate has passed similar legislation only to have it go nowhere in the House. "What makes this year's failure so bitter, " he said, "is that the committee did not even bother to debate the bill or go on record as to what their opposition could possibly be. What could be so objectionable about joining nearly 30 other states, including Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida to name a few, that have come to realize the crucial importance of Holocaust education ?" Levy said the bill asked for no state funding, no enforcement, and made no encroachment on local school board authority. "It simply sought to recognize the importance of the profound lessons of the Holocaust by utilizing the resources of the Commission on Holocaust Education my mother [the late Edith Levy, of Morgantown ] helped to establish over 25 years ago. That Commission stands ready to provide the vital resources and the pedagogical tools teachers need to effectively present this difficult subject in an age-appropriate manner. It was established precisely in anticipation of fulfilling the requirements of SB 54." But they won't give up, he said. "Rest assured we will be back again next year, again confidently assured of Sen. Oliverio's support and leadership and hopefully with enlightened leadership on the Education Committee." Oliverio could not be reached for comment on Friday. While SB 54 is technically alive until the Legislature adjourns Saturday night, it's practically dead. To have a chance, it would need to be successfully discharged from committee and have the House rules suspended to have three readings in a single day in order to go to a vote. Last year, this bill was SB 448 and died on second reading on the Senate floor. In 2023, a different bill with different sponsors, SB 216, called for education on the Holocaust and other genocides. It passed the Senate and was approved in House Education but died in House Finance.
