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Sponsor a Clown Student's Dream

and help bring joy where it’s needed

Sponsored Student Profiles

 

As the project progresses, we will be shairng informaiton about the candidates to receive funding.

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About us

 

The Escola de Clown ‘Cal Clown’ (‘The Clown House’ Clown School) was founded in Barcelona in 2006 by Clara Cenoz and Jon Davison. We were pioneers in Spain in providing regular clown training.

 

There is a growing demand both for training and also for a variety of services that clowns can offer. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the popularity and acceptance of the figure of the Clown, meaning that nowadays we reach places where previously it could have been unthinkable: prisons, hospitals, humanitarian expeditions, old people’s homes, and a lot more.

 

We have spent the last 12 years providing training on a residential basis in the middle of nature (the first 18 months beginning in Barcelona). This intensive experience is not so common, since the majority of courses are short and in urban settings, or where students don’t live together. The residential course favours a rapid learning process and a greater assimilation, as well the possibility of working all day if so desired.

 

These courses also allow us to make frequent visits to various centres in the city of Figueres, from hospitals to mental health centres, prison or children’s homes.

 

We have been collaborating with these centres for 9 years and our presence is much appreciated and welcomed, to the extent that both citizens in Figueres miss the clowns on the streets during winter, and the patients in those centres count the days for the Clowns visits!

 

Unfortunately, not everyone who would like to benefit from this intensive training can do so, for financial reasons. In spite of that, some students do manage to travel from far away, but at the cost of enormous sacrifices. But many more have not been able to do so as yet and would benefit from being able to work with other clowns in humanitarian contexts.

 

The benefits of clowning in social situations beyond commercial performance has long been known. There are countless studies which demonstrate how the presence of clowns and clowning can help to reduce stress, lower tension, help the immune system to resist disease and reinforce the person’s ability to resist pain. It also acts as a means to connect people and to encourage greater social interaction through play, joy and sharing. Its beneficiaries range form young children to the elderly, and include anyone who, for whatever reason, finds themselves under stress, threat of illness or in a situation of isolation or marginalisation.

 

We are now looking to expand access to clowning, for those training and performing as well as those who can benefit from receiving and interacting with clowns. We want to give greater opportunities to those who have, at the moment, difficulty in accessing clowning. We are therefore asking for you to help us financially so that those who could benefit from clowning have access to it, and not just those who can afford it.

 

The socially beneficial use of clowning has always formed part of what we offer to students and community groups. Over the 12 years of functioning, the Escola de Clown has trained hundreds of students in the art of clowning, including providing expert guidance and tuition in working as clowns with groups of people who might benefit most from the specially human connection that clowns are able to bring.

 

Our purpose is to enable people of all ages and nationalities to learn and use clowning, so that they can go out and bring as much laughter and joy to the world, wherever they choose to clown: for children or adults, in schools or theatres, in streets and villages, for rich and poor, in hospitals or refugee camps. This is our vocation, to help others to learn and to give back to the world, through the medium of joy and celebration of innocence that clowns bring.

 

We have built relationships with old people’s homes, children’s homes, prisons, centres for people with learning difficulties and local communities with restricted access to cultural activities. But how often we can carry out these activities is always limited by the resources available and presently can only occur on a voluntary basis, which does not allow for continuity in building projects.

 

We provide the means (facilities, expertise, training) for students  to attend courses. Students go on to create their own shows, performing with circuses, Clowns without Borders, Hospital Clown projects, refugee projects, as well as in the street and theatres all over. Our former students are scattered all across the globe!

 

We began this journey in 2006 in Barcelona, Spain, founding one of the world’s only full-time centres dedicated to the art of the clown and its transmission. In 2009 we moved to the countryside to the north, where the school currently resides, in a farmhouse with a circus tent nearby.

 

The project has been driven by Clara Cenoz, who has put all her energy, wisdom, time, creativity, love and money into the school. The Clown School is managed by the non-profit organisation Associació Escola de Clown. The school also actively promotes environmentally-friendly approaches which work in consonance with nature: care and recycling of water resources, waste recycling, organic/vegetarian food and respect for animals.

 

About the School’s Director:

Clara Cenoz has been living for Clowning during the last 25 years, learning it, performing it, analysing it, teaching it, and finally creating and running the Escola de Clown for the last 11 years, with students from all over the world learning and creating shows in record time!

She has participated in international humanitarian Clown expeditions to Mozambique, Brazil and Nepal.

Her latest achievement as a Clown teacher is her Online Clown Course and her Clown Coaching live sessions.

During the last years of intensive teaching, Clara has reached the point where she is almost exclusively interested in the social and spiritual benefits of Clowning, both for those who practise it and also for those who receive it. As well as her great love for joy and creativity with humour.

Our request

 

We are asking you to donate towards providing bursaries and sponsorship for:

 

1.Full- and Half-Scholarships for students to attend courses of up to three or four weeks duration.

 

Full-Scholarships are valued at €1,000. Half-Scholarships are €500. The normal cost of a one-month course is approximately €1,000. Candidates will be selected for awards according to the following criteria:

 

  1. Motivation

  2. Financial need

  3. Impact on the student’s capacity to work in Clowning the future

  4. Conscientiousness as a student

  5. Ability to get on well with fellow students and with teachers, as well as being comfortable in a rural setting in the middle of nature where respect for the environment is a necessity

 

We are aiming to be able to award a total Scholarship amount of €8,000

 

2.Running costs for courses

In order to be able to provide high quality courses for funded students, we are aiming to raise money to cover costs such as:

 

  • as a residential school and centre for clowning, our costs include accommodation, gas, electricity, water and food (power and water supply in a remote rural area where we are is not just a matter of turning a tap on!)

 

  • salaries during a course for one cook and one helper

 

  • the maintenance of the space and facilities: a medieval farmhouse and a purpose-built circus tent are our main resources

 

  • travel, props, costume, travel costs (moving student clowns around the countryside to visit villages and towns)

 

Total sought: €4,000

 

 

Your donations

Our target is to raise €12,000 for a one-month course

 

Your donations would help us continue our vocation of spreading high quality clowning all over the world. We are incredibly motivated and hard-working, but only so much can be achieved without help. If you feel, like us, that the magic, compassion and joy of clowning should be available to all, then by donating you would be supporting us in doing that and every € donated will be hugely appreciated!

 

If clowns have ever brought something into your life that made you feel good, laugh or feel better about yourself in some way, then perhaps you'll feel that's a good incentive to support us and our mission!

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Any help would be greatly appreciated and please feel welcome to select the donation options that have the "rewards" and also to donate outside of the rewards if you feel moved to do so!

 

 

Many Thanks,

Clara

Associació Escola de Clown

Gifts in return for your donation

 

What will you receive as gratitude for your donation?

 

Each donation will go to one our funded students, who will be the person to send you gifts of various types.

Other gifts are created by the School, or contributed by the Director in the form of her online clown courses and coaching.

 

The gifts related to the course will be sent during the time it is held.

 

For some donation quantities there are a number of options, according to your interests, whether you want to learn clowning or not, or whether you have a company or are an individual.

 

 

€10

a ‘thank you’ message with a signed photo from the director and your sponsored student.

 

€20

a video message thanking everyone, recorded by the sponsored students.

 

€50

a personalised recorded video message thanking you, recorded by the sponsored students.

 

€100

a personalised live video call, thanking you, from your sponsored student

OR:

a personalised video recording message from your sponsored student as a clown

OR:

your sponsored student will help your local community with their time and skills, [only available in the local area of Girona, Catalonia]

 

€150

a personalised letter, written as a clown from your sponsored student, plus a video of your student reading it

OR:

an online video from our unique online clown course, with homework included, created by our director, Clara

 

€200

a message from our lovely Clown Messenger message, designed exclusively for someone you choose [Clown Messenger makes messages of love, congratulations, greetings, etc based on the information you provide]

OR:

an online clown coach session of 90 minutes with Clara, with homework included, for you or a person of your choice

OR:

your company or product name or logo placed on our website and facebook groups, recognising you as an official sponsor of this project [during the project time]

 

€300

a personalised clown number for you, made from info you provide [character, interests, profession…] recorded on video by the sponsored students.

OR:

your company or product name or logo placed on our website and facebook groups, recognising you as an official sponsor of this project [remaining beyond the duration of the project]

 

€500

a live video call from a visit or show they are doing with your sponsored student, so that you can be present when they are bringing joy to those who need it

PLUS: a personalised clown number for you, made from info you provide [character, interests, profession…] recorded on video by the sponsored students.

PLUS: your name as an honoured member of the Clown School sponsors in perpetuity, with your photo on our website

 

€500 +

a talk, workshop or training day given by our director for your group, business or organisation (with costs for travel and meals covered)

OR:

a clown advert making publicity for your business, activity or project (as long as those are environmentally, animal and human friendly), created especially for you following your detailed information

 

 

NOTE: If you are donating via a company or organisation, please note that we are a Non-Profit Organisation (Associació Escola de Clown)

 

If you have donated and are able to attend one of our classes during the course, as a passive or active student, we can offer this possibility as a gift, instead of the ones mentioned above.

 

If you can think of another gift that we can offer that would be to our liking, you can write to us and we will gladly consider it.

 

The next course will take place in May 2019, so your donations could be helping clown students very soon!

Full info about the course here: http://escoladeclown.wixsite.com/escoladeclown/one-month-professional-clown-course

 

We are hoping to raise enough money by the end of January to let students know they are funded for May and have time to get organised. But we shall be continuing our fund-raising campaign until May in order to cover other expenses of the course.

 

My name is Yana. I am from Belarus, I believe you may have never heard about my country. If you look on the map, you can find it in the center of Europe. The best two things about Belarus are people and nature.

 

I am 24 and I work as a language teacher here. I am a hospital clown with the NGO “Funny Nose” https://www.facebook.com/funnynoseminsk/  My clown name is Phoebe. I’ve been doing hospital clowning for a year and a half.

 

What inspires me to be a clown? I just love to be a clown. It gives to me and changes me a lot. It teaches me to be myself, be sincere, creative and happy. And I hope it helps me to make the people around me a bit happier and the world a better place.

What inspires me to be a social clown? Every time I go to a hospital, I see the impacts and benefits of hospital clowning for the well-being and recovery process of ill and hospitalized children, and that is what really inspires me. I see how a child who has been refusing to eat for rather a long time, through a game with a clown starts to eat. And because of that his parent calms down and becomes relaxed. I see how the clown can decrease the level of stress during medical procedures. I see how smiles appear on the faces of medical stuff when they see clowns. All of these reasons motivate me to work as a social clown.

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Nombre: Erling Omar Morán Gutiérrez

Nacionalidad: Nicaragüense

Edad: 22 años

País de residencia: Nicaragua

Formación como Payas@ hasta ahora: Autodidacta

Experiencia de trabajo como Payas@ y en trabajo social:

Desde hace 5 años formo parte del Colectivo “El Nido de las Artes” donde nos disciplinamos en las Artes Circenses, entre ellas el Payaso.


¿Qué te inspira a trabajar como Payas@ o Payas@ social?

Haber encontrado el Arte para mí es haber encontrado la felicidad, algunas veces retrocedo el tiempo en mi imaginación, lloro de tristeza y felicidad, porque veo a la persona en la que posiblemente me hubiera convertido sin hacer Arte, hubiese sido infeliz y afectado a las personas más cercanas a mí. Pensar que soy todo lo contrario a esa persona me impulsa a amar quien soy, lo que hago, a no ser egoísta y encontrarle placer al valor de compartir, para que otras personas tengan la oportunidad de conocer la felicidad y contagiarla a quienes les rodeen.

 

¿Qué aspecto de tu Payas@ crees que necesita trabajarse? 

Todo mi Payaso necesita trabajarse, no lo digo por modestia (aunque tampoco me considero ególatra), sino porque el aprendizaje es infinito y siempre va a existir algo que trabajar para mejorarlo.

 

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