Clowning Effectively
The NGO my group and I are working with is called Clowns Without Borders. This international organization highlights joy as a human right and works to bring happiness to communities facing adversity through performance art. CWB goes where many other organizations do not, working with individuals in active crisis zones. Importantly, CWB only goes where they are invited, meaning that any community they perform for has indicated that they would like CWB’s performances. CWB works to be mindful and respectful of every community they are invited to, considering the various cultural contexts that make up a community.
We have worked closely with the executive director and performer, Naomi Shafer, who pours her heart and soul into CWB’s mission. Our project within CWB is developing a psycho-educational toolkit for performers before going on their tours. This toolkit has a few aims: to adequately prepare performers to create and structure their performances in a way consistent with the community values of the people they are performing for. Another component is to deliver knowledge on concepts within psychology that may be relevant to what these community members are experiencing. As CWB works to serve populations facing mass displacement, humanitarian crises, or natural disasters, there is a certain level of psychological arousal that being in a stressful event merits. We aim to educate performers on what can happen to individuals at the physiological level when experiencing prolonged periods of excessive stress. This serves two purposes: it makes the performers aware of what chronic stress may look like and how people may behave after a traumatic event. It also underscored why laughter and joy are paramount in situations like these and how even small doses can provide individuals with momentary relief. Naomi highlights that play is presence, and in events that isolate individuals from being able to be present, laughter can bring individuals together.
Our experience working as a team with Naomi has been unique, from our weekly meetings to our personal development alongside the project. One major highlight of the academic portion of this experience was being able to present alongside Naomi on humanitarian clowning at Columbia University. Watching individuals respond to the mission of CWB, as well as our proposed toolkit, felt extraordinarily humbling and inspiring. There were performers from all over the world who resonated with joy being a human right and were eager to learn how to do so effectively and respectfully. Additionally, presenting to a room full of people on a toolkit that we have been working to develop for months and getting feedback from the audience felt meaningful and rewarding.
I also feel very thankful to work on a team full of artistic individuals, as our presentation materials and toolkit have not only the knowledge but also a beautiful delivery. As we move into the final weeks of this semester, I am excited to polish the project and present our finalized version of our deliverable. It truly has been and continues to be such a powerful and transformative experience, and I feel grateful to my NGO partner and my team for building this up so effectively.
