The Ballard Institute will present the grand opening of its new exhibition Somos Uno: Mexican and Mexican American Puppetry on Saturday, Nov. 15, with refreshments served at 4:30 p.m. a tour at 5 p.m., and a performance of Somos Uno: The Puppet Show at 6:30 p.m.

The tour will also be streamed on Ballard Institute’s Facebook Live.

Somos Uno: Mexican and Mexican American Puppetry, curated by Ballard Institute Director John Bell and undergraduate Puppet Arts student Sol Ramirez, will showcase puppets, masks, toy theaters, calaveras and other performing objects from pre-Columbian times to the present, to understand the roots, hardships, and power of a culture uniting to thrive as one. The exhibition will feature historical work by the Rosete Aranda Company, three generations of the Cueto Family, Alebrije creator Pedro Linares, and California’s El Teatro Campesino, as well as work by Edwin Salas, Lormíga Titeres, Teatro del Gato, Alejandro Benítez, and other artists and puppeteers. Reservations are not required to attend the free exhibition tour.