Edna Bland is a certified educator, teaching artist and puppeteer who has honed her craft at The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, and Lincoln Center Education’s Juilliard School. As a puppeteer, she was mentored by Carroll Spinney, “Big Bird” of Sesame Street. She was honored to be one of the exhibiting artists for the Ballard Institute and Museum’s Living Objects: Celebration of African American Puppetry at the University of Connecticut. She also had the privilege to be a puppeteer for Jane Henson’s Nativity for two touring seasons. In 2021, she was one of the recipients to receive the 400 Distinguished Award by the US Congress commemorating the 400 years of African American History for her work as an educator and teaching artist serving her community. In 2022, She was awarded the Theatre Arts Educator of the Year from the Florida Association for Theatre Educators and in 2023, she received the Marjorie Batchelder McFarland award by the Puppeteers of America for her contributions in puppetry education and therapy. 
 
Before becoming an educator, Edna worked in the entertainment industry for such companies as The New York Emmy Awards and Sony Music Entertainment. As arts advocate, she serves as the Vice President for the Puppeteers of America, Executive Secretary for The Florida Alliance for Arts Education and Board Member for Florida Association for Theatre Education. In addition, she is the District 2 Chair for the Florida Jr. Thespian supervising middle school theatre troupes in Seminole and Volusia counties. 
 
She has a M.F.A. in Entertainment Creative Writing, M.S. in Entertainment Business, B.S. in Organizational Management and A.A.S. in Music Business. She is currently a theatre arts instructor at a fine arts magnet school in Sanford, Florida where she is credited with having the only puppetry arts elective program in the nation.