Tribute to 40 years
For 40 years, healthcare clowning has brought compassion, connection, and moments of joy into hospitals around the world. Since 1986, the pioneering work of Michael Christensen, co-founder of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit in New York, and Karen Ridd, who helped establish one of the earliest therapeutic clown programs in Canada, has helped shape this global movement. Their vision laid the foundation for the art and practice of healthcare clowning as we know it today. Read their tributes and cherish the legacy they helped create.
Michael Christensen
Healthcare clowns transform energy. They raise vibrational frequency of spirit. Play is their medium, pure joy, their creation. Healthcare clowns sculpt moments.
Karen Ridd
I want to send my warmest greetings, much love and so much gratitude to you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do - your love, your clowning, your music, your creativity, your inspiration, your healing, your camaraderie, your support, your teaching. For it all.