How come there is only one thread for Hospital Clowning? I think that clowning in hosptials is essential!! Not just in the Children's (Pediatrics) but in Hospice and in the ER and perhaps even the bathrooms!!
The amazing healing power of humor and laughter is what I am striving for eventually.
I WAS going into Child Life (to be a Child Life Specialist) but I ran into some road blocks that led me to gain an interest in clowning in the hosptial. MUCH more fun and free and playfull.
Everyone keeps warning me that clowning is an ART and that clowns have to go through PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLING in order to become a CLOWN.
I do KNOW that there is an art to being a clown. One MUST be able to express emotions/feelings/etc. through their words and gestures..
but where is there a professional school?
I want to be a hosptial clown.

I am not sure why there is only one thread here. It is not because we don't think it is important and some here specialize in Hospital clowning like Willace. It is just no one has had any questions about it I suppose...

Proffesional clown education... what a topic. As far as I can tell there are lots of places that have week long workshops on clowning. The most pretigious I can think of are:
Pricilla Mooseburger's Moosecamp. http://www.mooseburger.com and
The Celebation Barn in Main: http://www.celebrationbarn.com
the New York Goofs: http://www.nygoofs.com/
the Wright School in England: http://www.thewrightschool.co.uk/

Then there is the places that go beyond just a week or two of training, but sometimes require you to have theater experiance, and are more like masters degrees.

The one I want to do someday:
The cown conservatory in San Fransico http://www.clownconservatory.org/

Some others:
Dell' arte School of Physical theater: http://www.dellarte.com/mainpage.php?parent_id=1
The Leqoc school in Paris, France: http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com/ecole-pratique-uk.php?bg=02

But you don't have to do any of these. The other way is to latch on to a local alley, another clown, or just continue doing what you are doing, and learn things as you go along and have lots of fun.

there are alot more you jsut have to go downto the bottum of the post & click where it sez about from a month & go to where it sez begenning to see them all

Big Apple Circus's clown care unit offers extensive training opportunities to those who are involved with their work. Though it may be difficult to get hired as you have to audition and all.

Many of the clown school offerings out there (such as Mooseburger and Clown Camp) provide classes in this type of clowning, also.

Check out Shobi Dobi's website and newsletter, which focuses on hospital clowning:

http://www.hospitalclown.com/

Find a local Clown Alley alot of time they will have a clown school and at least teach you the basics

There are a number of clowns in the Birmingham area. Goto www.coai.org (http://www.coai.org) on the felt hand side of the page there is a button that says "Find a clown" click and find Alabama. That should let you know about some of the clowns in the state. Go old fashioned and check the local phone books to see if anyone is listed as well.

Which hand is the felt on Fitzwilly.:p

Obviously the felt is all over my typing hands. felt = left