The Piros Orr Bohócdoktorok Foundation celebrates 15th birthday

Piros Orr Bohócdoktorok Alapítvány celebrates its 15th anniversary at the SOTE I. Children’s Clinic. It was no coincidence that this clinic was chosen as the venue for the special celebration, as the first ever hospital clown visit in Hungary started here back in 1996.

Piros Orr was founded 15 years ago by Red Noses in Austria, but the mission is still the same today:  to help sick and suffering children through difficult times by bringing laughter right to their bedsides. Thanks to donors, companies and private persons, the organization has gone through significant developments over the years.

With 27 professional artists now working in ten hospitals throughout the country, the clowns have conjured up smiles on more than 200,000 sick children’s faces since the organization was founded.

To add to this, an impressive programme started up five years ago when the clowns started regular visits to two old people’s homes. In 2004 Piros Orr became a partner of the Red Noses Clowndoctors International (RNI) group.

RNI is now comprised of eight member organizations located in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and New Zealand. One of the pillars in the world of RED NOSES is the professional and psychological education of the clowns.

Behind this feature lies the continuous exchange of ideas & experiences and masterminding of new programmes by the national artistic directors who meet on a regular basis. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Piros Orr Bohócdoktorok Alapítvány this year, the artistic directors held their annual meeting in Hungary.

The international group of clowns, representing the best in Europe, made a special clown visit to the SOTE I. sz. Gyermekklinika where the birthday celebrations took place. This was an occasion never seen in Hungary before!

Background information

Piros Orr’s clown team consists of 27 specially trained artists, who bring laughter and joy to sick children in hospitals. Laughter, known as a biological coping strategy, efficiently helps to ease stress, which in turn supports the human body to overcome illnesses.

The first clown care programme was founded in 1986 by Michael Christensen, an American artist in New York. The idea was taken over by the Austrian organization, ROTE NASEN Clowndoctors, who then founded Piros Orr Bohócdoktorok Alapítvány in Hungary in 1996.

Piros Orr is a non-profit organization financially supported solely by donations. Piros Orr joined the RED NOSES International group in 2004 and has since proven to be a strong partner through its partnership contract.

Clowndoctors, who work in pairs, establish personal relationships with the patients. During their weekly regular visits the clowns use a variety of methods of communication in their repertoire - puppetry, song, music, juggling acts, magic, tricks and their own improvisational tools.

Before they start their very intimate performance activities they are informed by the doctors and nurses about the state of the respective patients in the ward.

In the first few years the clowns visited only one hospital in Budapest; SE I. sz. Gyermekklinika, and had in 1999, for example, brought laughter to 3,084 sick children during that year. In comparison, approximately 21,000 children and 1,700 geriatric patients were visited in 2010.

Its activity has been extended to additional 9 hospitals gradually in the past years. The aim of the foundation is to spread out its function to all hospitals in the country to offer the help to every children hospital.

The participant Artistic Directors in the 15th anniversary who took part in the celebration clowndoctor visit were:

- Giora Seeliger, Red Noses International (RNI)
- Eva Skofic Maurer, RN Slovenia
- Gary Edwards, RN Slovakia
- János Greifenstein, RN Hungary
- Lukas Houdek, RN Czech Republic
- Martin Kotal, RN Austria
- Reinhard Horskotte, RN Germany
- Zorán Vukic, RN Croatia

For more information please visit our homepage: www.pirosorr.hu Alternatively, you can also contact the Ágnes Rékay, Managing Director + 36 1 472 1088 or agnes.rekay@pirosorr.hu