RED NOSES Clowndoctors International

In multi-week missions, professionally trained clown artists support children and their families living in crisis situations to develop strategies to cope with their challenging situation. These are people who have lost almost everything, who have witnessed and survived conflicts or natural disasters, who were forced to flee, and who live in dire and stressful situations.
With our artistic and interactive clown interventions, the children are given the possibility to express their feelings in a playful manner. The clowns can trigger a shift of focus, concentrating on the positive, the strength and the abilities of the children. The reconnection to positive feelings helps to regain resilience and hope.
The programme is implemented on a regular and on-going basis since 2013.

The demographic change in Europe is resulting in a growing population of 65+ and a growing need for arts projects that address the wellbeing of the elderly. Senior citizens, and their general well-being, constitute a group whose needs often go unmet. RED NOSES Clowns are engaging with senior citizens since more than 25 years. They are meeting them with respect and empathy, integrating their personal history and activating all their senses. That means singing songs together, recalling familiar smells, sharing recipes, connecting with memories from their “golden years” or dancing a gentle waltz.
When it comes to elderly people, RED NOSES senior programmes aim at contributing to the development of compassionate, respectful and person-centred care. RED NOSES International recognizes the need to provide the highest standards of healthcare and wellbeing at all ages. During the interactions, humour is used to convey respect for human dignity and for the personal history of the other. For elderly people, humour at their bedside conveys the message that they are acknowledged as valuable member of society that deserve to receive empathetic attention.
Besides regular visits, RED NOSES also developed Varieté - a theater workshop for seniors. Senior citizens in need of care often have the impression that they are no longer needed because they no longer have any tasks. The workshop shows how much the elderly participants have to offer. Here, residents of nursing homes study stage acts from the magical world of vaudeville alongside the clowns and playfully become stars. For three days, nursing home residents enter the magical world of vaudeville. On two mornings, the clowns sensitively support the senior citizens as they rehearse their stage numbers in the areas of dance, artistry, magic and curiosities. The program is designed in such a way that people with a wide range of physical and cognitive impairments can also participate. After two days of rehearsals, the curtain is raised in front of a selected audience (residents, relatives, nursing staff) - the senior citizens perform what they have learned in a show. The applause and their successful performance boost the residents' self-confidence and show them what forgotten skills they still have.

The Caravan Orchestra | CarO is a tailor-made musical theatre show for children and youth with mental and multiple disabilities. A group of three specially trained clowns travel from “oasis to oasis” visiting institutions for special education. The concept was initially developed by the organisations CliniClowns in the Netherlands and was then transferred to RED NOSES for implementation in more European Union countries.
This format, developed specially for the needs of this particular audience is implemented by 7 local RED NOSES partner organisations. It makes possible for the clowns to connect directly with the children on eye level. The goal of the show is to give the possibility for the audience to enjoy theatre and the art of clowning. Through a partly interactive play, based on sensitivity and respect, the clowns use humour and laughter but they also decrease the speed and put themselves in the background giving moments of spotlight to each member of the audience individually.
The door to the performance room is wide open and one can hear a melody approaching. The “Caravan Orchestra” enters the room and the clowns are on the search for additional musicians for their orchestra. Making music is their passion and preferably with the children and youngsters present. The show is all about a key, which fits the big trunk that holds all the instruments for the new musicians. The trunk will open and the keys are used as rhythm instruments that the children will use themselves. During the show some little surprises are generated by the clowns. The children are encouraged to help the clowns and thus become part of the story (just if they want to, so no stress is caused for them, the teachers and the clowns). At the end everything will be packed again and the caravan leaves the room with the door wide open. After 30 min. everything is over and the caravan has moved on.
The CarO structure, plot, its simplicity, length, the intimacy of the environment where it takes place, the volume and energy of the show, and the abundance of sensory elements to engage children, on their own terms, are all drivers of the positive impact that CarO has on children, educators and the school community alike.

ClowNexus is a large scale cooperation project co-funded by Creative Europe. From November 2020 to October 2023, eight European Healthcare Clowning Organisations will explore more in detail how arts and humour can be used to develop stronger social connections, and enable better communication with (1) people living with dementia, (2) children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their environments.
ClowNexus provides the space to develop new artistic formats and approaches in a co-creative process. Throughout the project clown artists from seven countries will meet in several artistic laboratories and develop new artistic formats and approaches together with their co-creators: elderly people with dementia, children and teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder, their family members, carers, social experts and artists from other artistic fields.
With the project ClowNexus, the organizers want to find a common path to create, play, laugh and enjoy art together, giving time and space to everybody to express their perspectives, feelings and creativity.
The main project goals are:
- to improve the access to artistic performances and contribute to the social inclusion of people with dementia as well as children and teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- to strengthen the capacity of healthcare clowning organisations in Europe to co-create and to implement transformative learning processes
ClowNexus aims to:
- increase the wellbeing and social inclusion of vulnerable groups
- increase the capacity of healthcare clowning organisations to create art for and with vulnerable groups
- increase the awareness of the value of arts for well-being

RED NOSES International (RNI) is constantly improving its high artistic quality standards for artists working with RED NOSES partner organisations. RED NOSES Curriculum has been introduced in 2015 and since revised and changed according to the needs of the group. With this solid and uniformed curriculum, the RED NOSES group seeks to ensure artistic quality by providing the best possible training and education for its clown artists. The curriculum is obligatory for all RN partner organisations; therefore all clowns are required to complete the certification process. To obtain the “RED NOSES International Certificate”, the applicant is required to complete all curriculum units. The entire curriculum comprises of 28 modules in 7 units and a total of about 560 hours.
In a Study Entry and Orientation Phase applicants get a basic understanding of the ethics, drivers and structures of RNI as well as the theoretical knowledge of hospital clowning. Artistic Studies include a series of workshops taught by international professionals. Healthcare Studies & Clinical Exposure, Psychology and Sociology are essential parts of the training to understand the delicate environments and rules of working in hospitals and senior residence settings, to understand the conditions of patients, their reactions and expectations, enable specific knowledge to meet the needs for profound clown work in the hospital environment and to understanding of how to interact with people from diverse cultures and ethnicities. In a dedicated Communication Unit different communication skills are taught to promote governance and ensure a common understanding within the organisation. The Clown Trainee Programme covers practical work in hospitals and comprises coaching sessions in between the visits.
In addition to the Curriculum activities exchange programmes offer added value to the clowns´ education and training. In addition to this curriculum, each healthcare clown must sign the RED NOSES Code of Ethics, the RED NOSES Children and Vulnerable Persons Safeguarding Policy and be willing to attend regular psychological supervisions.
The RED NOSES Academy will be part of the Education System within RNI, designed as further education for certified RN clown artists. All RN clowns can apply, through their Artistic Director, for one of the offered modules, after they have successfully completed the RN Curriculum. The goal is to have a pool of internal experts that will be able to teach throughout RN and further develop RNI’s own style and maintain its artistic quality.
Above all, the RN Academy will be practice-oriented with a focus on specializing in one or more areas, such as working with senior citizens, in geriatric facilities, with children and adolescents with disabilities, giving seminars on Humor in Healthcare and others.
The layout of the RN Academy consists of mandatory modules to serve as a theoretical base as well as a varying number of modules based on specific topics and needs of RNI

RED NOSES Clowndoctors was founded in 1994 in Austria as a non-profit organisation, bringing humour and laughter to people in need of joy. In 2003 the charitable non-profit foundation RED NOSES Clowndoctors International (RNI), also based in Austria, was established as headquarters of the RED NOSES group. Its tasks are to build up, monitor and support international RED NOSES local organisations. In doing so, RED NOSES International simultaneously develops and maintains high ethical and artistic quality standards in all its clown programmes within the group.
Today, RED NOSES Clowndoctors is one of the largest clown doctor groups in the world with local organisations in 11 countries. In 2020, the international team of more than 400 professionally trained artists brought joy and laughter to more than 400.000 people in 583 medical and social institutions. The RED NOSES group has developed a wide range of specific formats within its programmes for all major beneficiaries: children in hospitals, medical and care staff, elderly people, children with disabilities as well as refugees.
RED NOSES has high artistic quality standards and is constantly investing in the training of its professional artists. With the implementation of a solid and uniformed curriculum, the RED NOSES group seeks to remain in the vanguard of artistic quality by providing the best possible training and education for its clowndoctors.
The vision of RED NOSES is that all people in need of joy are better able to reconnect to themselves, each other, and the beauty of all human emotions. This is what drives their mission: They are an artistic organisation bringing humour and laughter to people in need of joy.

• They believe in the ‘use of humour and the art of clowning’ as invaluable tools to connect to those that feel socially disconnected and improve their emotional wellbeing. With artistic interventions they want to give those in need the possibility to experience the richness and diversity of cultural expression.
• As they interact with people in need of joy, they seek to unlock their creative potential, strengthen their ability to cope with difficulties, and help towards a higher emotional wellbeing. They seek to create more supportive environments in care settings, where the use of humour and art are embraced by care providers, leading to more empathetic interactions with people in need.
• They use the experiences to inspire policy makers and conduct research for evidence-based advocacy towards one goal: to enable greater access to humour and art for people in need. They partner with like-minded organisations and use their networks of partners to amplify the message.
• Laughing and humour resonates with individuals all over the world. By using the universal language of laughter and human emotions, RED NOSES clowns are in the unique position to easily overcome linguistic, cultural and religious barriers and foster intercultural dialogue.