What?
Our clowning for older adults programme supports people living in nursing homes and dementia units. Older citizens often face difficult circumstances. These include illness, loneliness and social isolation. Indeed, these challenges can significantly affect their emotional wellbeing and quality of life.
Furthermore, the RED NOSES Older Citizens Programme focuses on improving the quality of life of older adults. Our clown artists work to promote emotional health and wellbeing for this group and their support systems. Above all, they use the power of art, clowning and humour to create human bonds, access positive emotions and activate creativity.
How?
The Older Citizens Programme is compromised by several different artistic formats. Bedside visits, for example, encourage personal engagement as the clowns make a point of engaging with the personal history of each individual. This includes singing songs, recalling familiar smells, dancing, and connecting with the memories of their lives.
This Programme also offers the Varieté show. RED NOSES designed this format to tackle the specific challenges, such as reduced mobility and social isolation. The Varieté workshops last three to five days. Moreover, artists adapt each session to the individual capacities and interests of the participants. As a result, older people experience a strong sense of belonging and community.
To create a lasting impact, RED NOSES clown artists also work with representatives of the older adults’ support networks, such as caregivers and relatives, to create a positive and uplifting environment that lasts beyond the intervention.
To learn more about how our artists are trained, visit our How we train page. You can also explore the research behind the impact of clowning for older adults.