Support the work
Help keep the art alive.
There is more than one way to do it. Fund the work, give something other than money, or bring the Institute to your community.
Fund the work
A gift can go to a specific part of the work or to wherever it is needed most:
- Preserve the record. The work required to find, scan, identify, source, connect, and publish material through the Archive.
- Sponsor a pop‑up event. Bring the history and craft of ventriloquism into a library, school, festival, convention, or community space.
- Sponsor a live performance. Put professional ventriloquism in front of an audience at no cost to the people attending.
- Sponsor the Read, Laugh & Learn Adventure. Help children experience a live show, receive a book and peeper puppet, turn their hand into a character, and perform a first show of their own.
- Support youth grants. Lessons, equipment, fees, training, and travel for young people with uncommon talent.
- Give where it is needed most. Unrestricted support lets the Institute respond when rare material appears, a program opportunity opens, or a practical need cannot wait for a separate campaign.
The most valuable thing you have may be a name written on the back of a photograph.
Every year, unique material is lost because the person clearing a house does not know what it is. You can help prevent that without giving up ownership.
We are looking for:
- Programs and playbills
- Photographs of performers, figures, workshops, and events
- Correspondence involving performers or figure makers
- Trade magazines and club newsletters
- Catalogs, advertisements, and price lists
- Audio, film, and video recordings in any format
- Figures and the stories attached to them
- Firsthand memories, corrections, and identifications
You can donate an original, lend it for scanning, send a digital copy, or invite us to photograph it. A scan with good information may preserve nearly everything the Archive needs. We credit contributors unless they ask us not to.
Bring us to your community
Schools, libraries, museums, festivals, conventions, civic organizations, and community groups can host pop‑up historical exhibitions, educational talks and demonstrations, live public performances, Read, Laugh & Learn Adventures, and family and community literacy events.
Tell us about the audience, location, timing, and what you hope the event will accomplish. We will help determine which format fits.
Know a young person we should hear about?
If you know a young person with unusual talent and a practical obstacle standing in the way, tell us about the specific need: the lesson, instrument, equipment, entry fee, or trip that could help the work continue. Write to [email protected].
Practical details
By check. Make checks payable to Ventriloquism Institute, Inc.
Tax status. Ventriloquism Institute, Inc. is a Florida not‑for‑profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 46‑5471215. Contributions are tax‑deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Contact. For programs, sponsorships, Archive material, youth support, or questions about the Institute: [email protected]