My name is Bruce and I'm an independent performer, show creator and roaming entertainer and I have been accepted to study clown in London, England for 3-weeks this May with Spymonkey!

Since 2018 I have toured my shows internationally and have made countless connections with patrons all over. Yet as a working artist I genuinely haven't ever taken the time to pursue training for my art, much of what I do has been acquired through trial and error.

In the past few years I have met and befriended a wonderful network of friends who pursue the art of clown. While many practitioners of clown offer short intensives, few offer them for multiple weeks and few are held in as much esteem as Spymonkey. Based in London, England, they create and consult comedy for many productions globally. Their Creation School is only held once a year in May in London, it is their longest training they offer and brings together a cohort of emerging artists to elevate their craft.

Given the lack of clown training locally in Florida, this would be a lifechanging opportunity as I would be able to dive headlong into the work and connect with an entirely new community elsewhere. To take part I will have to forego many of my favorite performance opportunities (like the Orlando Fringe festival, my home fest) to attend this so you can imagine how much this would mean to me.

I have worked very hard and made many sacrifices these past few years to make living as an independent artist a possibility. I would not be able to do this without support from people like you. This would be both a great opportunity to do something for myself but also to further my craft.

While I am committed to financing this as much as possible on my own, it is a large period of time to be gone and any support you could provide would go a long way to alleviating the expense of an endeavor like this. Everything is obviously very strange and difficult right now, so I understand if you are unable to help -- there will be performances and more moving forward that you can attend to show support, if interested.

ASSOCIATED COSTS

£1700 = $2100 USD for Spymonkey's Theatre of the Funny Creation School, MAY 12-30

$500 USD flights from Orlando to London and back (average)

$1000 housing for 3 weeks+, ??? food, transport and other expenses

I will be setting my goal lower than the actual total costs.