American Museum
of Natural History

The animals of North America have a problem…their branding is a mess. The orca is labeled as a “killer” whale, no one’s even heard of the spiny softshell turtle, and the spider is getting squished just for catching flies. Luckily, Coyote is here. She’s going to rehabilitate their image and their habitat with his new PR firm. After all, Coyote knows what it’s like—in the last couple of centuries she’s gone from a venerated trickster and creation god to a widely despised backyard pest.

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After a series of conversations with the American Museum of Natural History, we discovered they needed a live family friendly program to celebrate EarthFest that could be broadcast live without folks gathering at the museum, due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic. We rustled up our top writers, musicians, and live animators to put together an unforgettable show, coming this April! 

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Each twenty-minute episode of this web-series will focus on one North American animal looking to take back their story. Our host, the clever Coyote, will lead us through a history lesson on each animal: how they were represented in various folklore traditions, how their “image” changed over the years, and what man-made ecological dangers they face now. Our visuals will be a mix of live performers, puppetry, and animation, with original music by The Lobbyists. The tone is fun, smart, and family-friendly, blending ancient myths with contemporary conservation efforts. The message, we hope, is clear: the stories we tell about these animals affect the way we see them, and folklore is inextricable from the history of the natural world.

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Check out our partner at https://www.amnh.org/