We are an inclusive collective of Clowns working across the UK to promote a positive image of working Clown’s and unite Clown’s across the country. We are working to declare 2015 “The Year Of The Clown” through a series of events and projects to raise the public profile of working Clown’s and all interested in Clown as a profession. This is an inclusive project and is open to anyone
who affiliates themselves with Clown, inviting anyone to contribute to our projects and cause. On the 1st of APRIL ‘Choose Clown’ are marching to raise awareness and positive tolerance for the working clowns of the UK. The event is to honour the profession of clown in London and promote a positive image of working clowns and enthusiasts across the city. This is not a political protest of any nature and invites clowns of all persuasions and expressions an opportunity to align themselves in the fight against this country's distinct loss of humour. Recent media interest has centred around the “Scary” manifestations of the clown fuelled by the latest season of American Horror Story and Stephen King’s It, plus a public persuasion towards coulrophobia [the fear of clowns.]
In February 2014, the Telegraph printed an article stating that the profession of clowning was dying out in the UK and indeed the world. According to statistics, there is a decline of interest in the profession supported by a decline in demand for clowns in the entertainment market. With the death of traditional travelling circuses and an increase in risk-averse promoters, there appears to be little opportunity for the traditional clown to fit into modern entertainment culture. And yet, there is indeed a budding underground clown culture in the UK and a renewed interest in the character, even if it is manifesting itself in less traditional forms of clowning. Clowning in the UK is supported by a respected network of traditional party entertainers and circus veterans, who have worked across the decades and kept the clowning tradition alive. Clowns appear to be popping up all over the place, as performers and as individual jokers. In 2013-2014, the national press reported multiple clown sightings across the country, and a public fascination with the clown was re-sparked. The clown appeared in 2014 to be that lonely figure walking around towns, causing no harm and looking for the circus, but behind the menacing garb there was always an anonymous fool trying to make a joke. There must be a reason that so many individuals decided to put on clown make-up in 2014, and wait around on their own? The Choose Clown March aims to push back against the negative image of clown, by presenting the multi-faceted nature of clown in all its glory. Indeed, that does include the “Scary Clown” but there are many other clown characters that are farcical or a caricature by nature. Choose Clown aims to be an inclusive clown project inviting clowns of any persuasion to stand together and celebrate the clown in modern society and its diverse manifestations in wider culture. JOIN US ON APRIL FOOL’S DAY 2015
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Too long has our kind been marginalised in the workplace, turned away in preference to non-painted pantomime artists and high-tech children party entertainment. We demand a right to work and not to be stereotyped into the “Crusty the Clown” or “Pennywise” representation of clown. Would you judge a whole culture based on a couple of fictional representations? Every day we face prejudice in the workplace and want to raise a public awareness to promote the fair and equal rights deserved by this age old profession, and for a group of people who suffer from a need to be laughed at. Who is going to represent when the mute among us unable to speak up for themselves? We demand to be taken seriously in the stupidest way possible. The clown is a mirror for society, a silent mouthpiece and a brave creature of mockery. Clowns are observers of the human condition and exist to manifest the facial nature of your existence. Without the clown you are unable to indulge in ridicule and the joy involved in exploration, failure and triumph. The character has ancient roots and was born out of a human need to laugh at each other, the UK was the birth of the pantomime character clown as we know it, and has produced some of the most famous clowns in
history. Clown deserves the right to be celebrated and not threatened with extinction by the press. Clowns need to be given the chance to prove themselves in contemporary entertainment culture, because sadly most of them are unable to shake this need to be laughed at and can do nothing else. This is a call to clowns across the country to take up your balloons and put your best oversized foot forward, to show the working world that clown is a legitimate career choice and despite constant discrimination and marginalization by wider culture we are still standing strong. We will be marching through London the birthplace of our profession in a peaceful manner to promote a positive image of our kind, a tolerance and awareness for all those who affiliate themselves with clown.
