All projects in 2010

Join Tyler and Jon on their journey to Cambodia for the Tini Tinou festival! The two volunteer artists will also spend time performing at schools and other centers for children in Phnom Penh and Battambang. Fresh off of their stint at the Berkshire Fringe Festival, Jon and Tyler are ready to bring laughter to the people of Cambodia. Jon and Tyler base there clowning operations in San Francisco where they produce the Clown Cabaret at the Climate Theater. Jon and Tyler have performed and worked with Circus Smirkus, Theater Works, Camp Winnarainbow, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and Theatro Zinzanni. Beyond their work with Pi, Jon and Tyler are professional circus arts teachers. With their powers combined they form a clown duo the likes of which the world has never seen before. Continue reading →

CWB USA and PSF Spain are working together again with Plan International. Kristi Hughes, Michael Oneill and Erin Crites will join Spanish clown, Pedro Izquierda to perform and provide workshops for children in Jacmel and Croix des Bouquets, Haiti. Continue reading →

This October (2010), three CWB volunteers visited Haiti to visit temporary camps run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Port-au-Prince.
During the project, the clowns offered 8-12 performances reaching 4,000-5,000 children and the broader community, a number of circus/theatre workshops with children and hold two half day training sessions for IRC educators in teaching circus and theatre games to build capacity for play activities to continue throughout the year. Continue reading →

Since Sept 4th Clowns Without Borders USA has been in the field working with Terre des Hommes, a child protection organization based in Port au Prince, Haiti and with field posts in Grand Goave (the epicenter of the January earthquake) and Les Cayes. We’ve been invited to do “a training of the teachers” work in clown, acrobatics, juggling and psychosocial support as it relates to play. For two weeks we’ve taught workshops in the mornings to child educators and then each afternoon we’ve worked with a group of 20 children, developing circus routines and playing games. The children we’ve been teaching have been featured guests in each of our performances. Continue reading →

CWB returns to Guatemala for a third time since 2005, when Hurricane Stan destroyed communities in the northwest highlands. Our work in Guatemala this time will consist of performances for all ages as well as clown workshops for youth and their teachers. Our main collaborator in Guatemala is Stephane Gue, director of Proyecto Payaso, an organization dedicated to raising awareness around HIV/AIDS through clown performances and workshops. Our collaborator in El Salvador is Robyn Braverman with Save the Children. El Salvador was recently (November 2009) hit by Storm Ida leaving thousands homeless and without access to basic needs. There we will perform in schools and provide youth groups with skills that allow them to use creative theatre in their organizational work and in their communities. Although we will only be in El Salvador for 3 days, in that time we will visit 5 different communities. In Guatemala we will spend time in remote communities outside Quetzaltenango, Sololá, Suchitepequez, and Izabal. Continue reading →

In 2010 we were planning four projects in Haiti. These projects would have focused on performances for large and small audiences, workshops for street children in and around Port Au Prince, peer educators who go into their own communities to bring awareness to HIV and AIDS and local performing artists with hopes for empowering Haitians through physical theatre, clown and social circus. After the earthquakes that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, our focus shifted. We are now working with our international partners and local NGOs working in Haiti to bring small moments of relief to those affected by the trauma of the earthquakes. Continue reading →

Following the aftermath of the earthquakes of January 12, 2010, Clowns Without Borders international was approached by many organizations working on relief efforts in Haiti. Payasos Sin Fronteras (CWB-Spain) and Clowns San Frontieres (CWB-Canada) immediately sent groups to Haiti in mid-February. In March CWB USA in collaboration with PSF, Plan International, Handicap International and SOS Villages, sent two teams of artists to the work with children and adults whose lives have been devastated by the earthquakes. Continue reading →

Moshe Cohen was the US artist in this project. Afterwards, he stayed on in Yangon to do 5 shows with the Belgian-Myanmar group.
At the same time he offered training sessions to Activity Facilitators who work with children in Training Schools and Child Friendly Spaces of disadvantaged areas. The training was similar to the delta workshops in focus, taking the work further by Moshe’s participation in AF activities in the field, thus providing hands on training.
This winter the international CWB push as all of last years groups are sending performances to Myanmar. Moshe Cohen will focus on working in the Training Schools, in Yangon and in Mandalay. He will be offering performances and furthering last year’s training with Activity Facilitators with more workshops and field trainings. Continue reading →

Gwen and Elisa return to Cairo for their fifth project. This time joined by Nate Dixon and three local artists, Maysara, Nora and Jakob who perform with the Cairo based group: El Khayal El Sha’bi, which means, The Folkloric Imagination. Continue reading →

Selena (CWB USA) Jamie (CWB SA) and Sibongile (CWB SA) are in Addis Ababa setting up a local capacity building project in partnership with the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. From Feb 16th through Feb 28th they will be meeting with people at WWO, performing shows, teaching workshops, and leading training workshops. Continue reading →

Anna Zastrow joins Dan Roberts and D’dy Soker (Indonesia based Hidung Merah artists) in Sumatra.
I have now been in Indonesia almost two weeks and it is time to report in! I am here joining Dan Roberts and his Hidung Merah (Red Nose) Circus and together we will bring clown joy to children living in disadvantaged or distressed conditions.
We are visiting poor villages around Jakarta, as well as the earthquake victims of Padang, and will possibly venture to Aceh, still recovering from the 2004 tsunami and civil unrest, or Sulawesi, where communities are caught up in religious conflict. Continue reading →

Rudi, Michal and Andi-Lou performed in and around Chiapas in January and February. The project included a nine day collaboration with Save the Children. Continue reading →