On the 5th and 6th of April 2025, 52 clowns took over Bristol University’s drama department to explore The Future Of Clowning In Turbulent Times.

Clown Congress video filmed and edited by Dan Green

Dan’s video and this blog offer a flavour of what took place at Clown Congress 2025. Read on for a bit of context, a roll call of who was there, photos and descriptions of what happened and a brand new poem from Skye Lilly!

What Is A Clown Congress?

Clown Congress is a space for clowns of all backgrounds to come together to meet, play, chat, eat, inspire and be inspired by each other. Clown Congress 2025 was the fifth rendition, the first two iterations happened online during the pandemic, the next three happened in person in Bristol, UK.

Who Was There?

This year’s hosts were Robyn Hambrook (clown activist), Holly Stoppit (clown therapist) and Jan Wozniak (clown academic). We were supported by 5 Clown Congress Comrades (Anna, Holly M, Skye, Beth and Jessi), a Wellbeing Support Clown (Alice Human), a Catering Manager Clown (Lucy Heard), a Clown Photographer (Holly Tiggs) and a Clown Photographer / Filmmaker (Dan Green).

Our congregation included: clown doctors, clown activists, clown therapists, clown performers, clown teachers, clown puppeteers, clown musicians, clown wannabe’s, clown elders, boss clowns, clown parents, neurodivergent clowns, queer clowns, clown academics, clown dancers and clown deniers. 

What Did We Do?

We offered warm ups and getting to know you games in the mornings before introducing the Open Space. Open Space is a radical conferencing method where the attendees set the agenda. Anyone could propose a session exploring any theme relating to our overarching questions, then the delegates could choose where they wanted to be - they could attend single sessions, move between sessions or just hang out at the tea urn and chat with whoever was around.

Our Three Questions For Exploration:

• What is the future of clowning in turbulent times?

• How can we use clowning to build community, empowerment, and resilience?

• How can we make clowning more relevant, accessible and inclusive?

What Happened?

There was serious discussion, frivolous play, singing, dancing, lying down, feasting, lamenting, imagining and connecting. There were clowns disrupting the status quo, creating a new manifesto, rebuilding the world, making films and spilling out onto the streets of Bristol. 

Here follows a run-down of the session titles, a beautiful poem written by Skye Lilly and some wonderful descriptions of the event from the attendees.

The Sessions

There were 6 Open Space slots over the 2 days, with a mighty 24 (official) sessions called by the attendees. To give you a flavour of what happened, here is a run-down of all the sessions. You can click on the links to see reports of some of the sessions.

Day 1

Day 1 Sessions

• Games Exchange
• Clown and Grief
• Clown Collaborative Singing
• Exploring the sacred through clown
• Future of Clown using Social Presencing Theatre
• Introducing The Red Nose Party - How would clowns run the country? - writing our manifesto
• Clowning On Camera- what can we create?
• How Do Clowns Imagine A Utopian Future? Workshop visualising the future using utopia as method
• Heritage Puppet Clowning
• Clowning + Neurodivergency
• What happens / where does a clown rebel / feel moved from… in the chessboard of conventions?
• How can group facilitators and group organisers create event formats where people who can’t be there all day can be included in each activity?

Day 2

Day 2 Sessions

• Getting Out Of The Audience
• Clown Coaching / offering clown for personal growth and community building
• How can we respond to turbulent times through becoming creative? A somatic-based physical movement and guided imagery experimental space
• Time with a 3 year old in a room
• Street Play Chaos Fun Shit (going out into the streets of Bristol)
• Clown - co-creating action with audiences (with activating / activist type flavours)
• Follow-up on Clown-mandments / rebranding clown / distilling the essence of clown
• What About Men? Can we make clowning welcoming, accessible, and relevant for men?
• Exploration of how we approach things and setting intentions
• Camera Shy - privacy issues AI / facial recognition using tech media
• Clown Trickster As Sacred Disrupter / clowning peace by peace / does clown always become bouffon when it is political?
• How can we create an accessible inclusive comedy venue?

Syke Lilly’s Poem

Poet Skye Lilly created this poem over the two days, in response to their experience at Clown Congress. Dan Green filmed and edited this video of Skye performing their poem, with black and white pictures he took at the Clown Congress.

There is utopia here
In the dusk blue tinge of sunsetting
A dream within a dream within a dream
Sacred laughter echos
Sacred moment savoured
We click to quieten the thud of convention
To hear hearts beat with certain gesticulation
My grandmother took steps
So I could wear silly hats
So I should wear silly hats
And to find others that would wear silly hats
That makes silly sacred
That takes silly and savours it

There is a seat for you
If there is a space unfulfilled it will be filled for you
With you

I sit on tree trunks
What does everyone else sit on?
If the chair is pulled from underneath you
We will fall, I will fall gracefully
When we fall, we fall gracefully
Open heartedly
Come play over tea with me

Come lay randomly with me
For
Can you go for me
Can you see for me
When I am invisible can you be for me
With me
If you say this is the thing
We say "the what?"
"The what?" Again
We rebuild the world again and again and again

And when the falling rubble is too loud
We build a bigger den
And say "the what?" Again
We build a fort of playful silence
A thought for the not so fortunate
It says non violent
It says what
are we going to do about it?
It says what
Are we going to do about it?

Clowns on film

Tom Keegan made this film with a bunch of clowns during the Clowns on Film session (with extra footage from the Clowns Play Outside session)

Filmed, edited and original music by Tom Keegan
Featuring the Clown Congress poem by Skye Lilly
Poem sound recorded by Dan Green

How Did the attendees describe Clown Congress?

“Thought provoking, heart opening, healing, loving, compassionate, inspiring, fun and delightful.”

“A gathering of professional idiots and academics to share wisdom about the ancient and sacred role of mockery in modern society.” 

“An emergent, horizontal/self-organising and polyvocal event giving insight into the multifaceted world of clowning through workshops, practice and applied work.”  

“Well, as a person that didn't know anything about clowning before I would say it’s a place to learn about and explore clowning with people from a range of different experience levels.” 

“Radical listening to and sharing our beautiful tragic and ridiculous vulnerabilities.” 

“A place where a vast array of clowns come together to find common ground, share knowledge, experiment and revitalise missions for the future.”

You can see more pictures of some of the sessions here.

You can read reports from some of the sessions and see more pictures here:

• Clown and Grief by Clare Parry-Jones
• Introducing The Red Nose Party / Follow-up on Clown-mandments by Anna Frearson
• Clown - co-creating action with audiences by Rosa Stourac McCreery
• Clowning + Neurodivergency by Carla Keen
• Clown Coaching by Laura Singer
• Time with a 3 year old in a room by Suzy Harvey

To see how the British media reported Clown Congress 2025 click here.