The 2011-2012 Jim Henson Foundation Board of Directors with Big Bird
Top row: Janie Geiser, Louis Borodinsky, Pam Arciero, Lindsey "Z." Briggs (Foundation Manager), Heather Henson, Kathee Foran, Martin P. Robinson, Leslee Asch.
Bottom row: Eric Bass, Cheryl Henson, Jane Henson, Amy Rush (Foundation Manager Assistant). (Not pictured: Richard Termine)
The Jim Henson Foundation is a non-profit group founded by Jim Henson in 1982 to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States.[1] Cheryl Henson has served as its president since 1992.
The foundation provides grant funding to puppetry arts programs having awarded over 1,200 grants to 400 artists for the development of live puppetry theatre. Grant recipients have included Julie Taymor (The Lion King on Broadway), Janie Geiser, Lee Breuer, Ping Chong, Dan Hurlin, Basil Twist, and Robin Frohardt. The foundation had previously managed the International Festival of Puppet Theater from 1992 to 2000.