The Museum of the Moving Image needs your help to play the music, light the lights and raise the curtain on its long anticipated Jim Henson exhibit.
The Queens museum launched a Kickstarter campaign Tuesday that seeks $40,000 for a showcase that will feature the Muppet creator’s life’s work.
The project was first announced in 2013 and was scheduled to open a year later. However, the museum still needs money to renovate the items, which were donated to it by Henson’s family, and to create the cases that will house them.
“We are honored to be working with the designers and builders at the legendary Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to restore and preserve the puppets for future generations. And we are excited to be partnering with Kickstarter on reaching our goal,” Museum of the Moving Image executive director Carl Goodman said in a statement.
As of mid-Wednesday, the fundraising campaign had collected over $30,000. Contributions of more than $10 come with extras, including tickets ($25 or more) and Muppets items like notecards ($45 or more).
Neil Patrick Harris appears in the Kickstarter video that introduces the campaign and shows off some of the pieces that will be in the collection.
Over 40 puppets will be on display, including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Elmo, Cookie Monster, the Fraggles and the Dark Crystal’s Skeksis. It will also feature behind the scenes notes, photos and prototypes from Henson’s projects big and small.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg provided $2.75 million to help construct the physical space four years ago.
MoMI also announced that it will develop a traveling version of the exhibit that will launch at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle on May 20.
