1st Annual Hudson Mad Hatters’ Parade

Everyone at AWB HQ melted into instant heart-eyed emoji faces when the Processional Arts Workshop told us about their latest open-source work of mobile performance art (sometimes known as “a parade”).

We’re longtime fans of PAW’s work with communities creating site-specific art parades and Carnivalesque events from the South Bronx to Trinidad to rural Texas to the Obama White House. Hundreds of volunteers power every stage of production, using pageant puppetry and kinetic art to reflect local themes and narratives.

What got us making all kinds of whoop-shriek-squeal noises?

On May 11, 2019, the first-ever Hudson, NY Mad Hatters’ Parade will bring together a gaggle of hats and headdresses, body extensions and puppets, and wearable assemblages in every imaginable form. The Parade steps off from the Hudson Area Library, wending its way to a final Grand Sashay down the aisles of Basilica’s annual Farm and Flea artisans’ market.

Don’t you want to be a part of that? Of course you do! There’s a free, drop-in Mad Hat Slam May 5 at Basilica Hudson, a local avant-garde art space, providing materials and instruction in creating wearable artworks.

Our AWB grant will underwrite some of the materials you’ll use to make your wearable creation: fabrics, wire, bamboo, paper, tools, glue will be on hand at no charge to participants.

One day, years from now, when the Mad Hatters’ Parade is world-famous, remember that you were one of the first to hear about it.

Learn more about the Mad Hatters’ Parade at their website, and follow along with Processional Arts Workshop on Instagram and Facebook.