Clown conservatory
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The Clown Conservatory is a private perfromring arts school in, San Francisco, CA. It is the only year long professional circus and theatrical clown training program in America.
Beginning in 2000 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, to date 60 students have graduated from the program. Many of these graduates are now working professionally in circuses, theaters, and other performing companies around the world, including Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, The New Pickle Circus, Lunatique Fantastique, Circus Monti and Cirque Éloize.
[edit] Curriculum
Training at the Clown Conservatory has two major threads – skilled circus clowning and clowning in community.
- Skilled circus clowning
Students develop circus, dance, musical and theatrical skills to a level that they can be used as part of a ‘clown language’ while learning the structures that can contain that language. Clown history has yielded many classic routines that can become cutting edge when inhabited by skilled clowns who have developed unique 'languages'. First year students begin by exploring these classic structures, bringing them to life with authentic, idiosyncratic characters. They then learn to create original material (clown playwriting) and take their acts on the road.
- Clowning in Community
The program contains an ongoing study of how clowns can make deep contributions to their communities. In the first term, each student researches a clown or clown tradition from another part of the world, expanding our knowledge of how clowns relate within other cultures. In the second term, students partner with a local service organization e.g., San Francisco General Hospital), developing skills in the field to use clowning as a tool for enriching communities.
[edit] Circus Center
The Conservatory exists as part of Circus Center, San Francisco.
A not-for-profit circus organization, Circus Center was created in July 2001, after the San Francisco School of Circus Arts had acquired the New Pickle Circus, two names that embody a rich and much older history. The San Francisco School of Circus Arts was founded by Wendy Parkman and Judy Finelli in 1984, as a project of the Pickle Family Circus, which in turn, was founded ten years earlier by Larry Pisoni and Peggy Snider.
professional circus arts, and live circus performances through the New Pickle Circus and the San Francisco Youth Circus.
[edit] Clown Conservatory Links and Graduates
Jeff Raz - Clown Conservatory Director
