Courtesy of LPB.
Tank Ball with the cast of Ziggy's Arts Adventure
In September, when the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) announced its 56th annual Public Media Awards, no one should have been surprised when the Visual Arts award went to an art-starved alien and a band of punk rock puppets who live in a Louisiana junkyard.
Ziggy’s Arts Adventure, a children’s educational series created by Baton Rouge-based puppeteer Clay Achee and educational consultant Elizabeth Foos, and produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, won a NETA Award in the Visual Arts category for its second season, which features Achee’s original puppets and special guests including Louisiana musicians Marc Broussard and Tank Ball, artist Geeta Davé, author Keylonda Wheeler, and poet Ava Haymon, teaching core arts concepts to children ages seven through twelve.
Ziggy’s Arts Adventure follows the fortunes of Ziggy, a spaceship-wrecked alien who leaves his home planet in search of rock ‘n roll after discovering the golden record that left Earth aboard NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1977 (it included a recording of Chuck Berry singing “Johnny B. Goode”). Eventually Ziggy crash lands in a Louisiana junkyard, where he is taken in by a band of musician puppets—all also Achee’s creations.
Courtesy of LPB.
Ziggy with artist Anne Bujold.
Early in the show’s development, Achee joined forces with Foos to integrate educational concepts into Ziggy’s scripts, with the goal of introducing important concepts about the arts and Louisiana culture to young viewers. As co-creators, Achee and Foos write episodes in a curriculum-based format, while preserving the original concept’s imaginative joy, compelling characters, and thought-provoking story arc.
It appears to be a winning combination: Season three of Ziggy’s Arts Adventure is now in post-production at LPB’s Baton Rouge studios. Until new episodes are released, you can find seasons one and two streaming for free at ziggy.lpb.org. Printable arts activities are also available for download.
