The project in summary

Healthcare Clowning International Meeting.

The project in detail

The participation of RED NOSES to the Healthcare Clowning International Meeting 2026 (HCIM 2026) aimed to:

  • increase collective capacity to design artistic and psychosocial support interventions based on scientific evidence, expanding their reach;
  • transfer and acquire healthcare clowning skills and practices, increasing their impact;
  • strengthen the healthcare clowns’ skills and help shape the future of arts-based care for people in vulnerable and crisis situations;
  • consolidate the collaboration with key international stakeholders to foster interdisciplinary synergies (universities, NGOs, hospitals, policy-makers, artists) in order to maximize the impact of healthcare clowning;
  • launch new collaborations to ensure that the transformative benefits of arts and artistic therapies are systematically integrated into social, humanitarian, and healthcare strategies, at European and international level.

Direct beneficiaries
18 people, including managerial and artistic operators, researchers, governance.

Indirect beneficiaries
673 people, including researchers, medical staff, policy-makers, healthcare clowns, and representatives of civil society (NGOs).

The 2026 edition of the Healthcare Clowning International Meeting (HCIM 2026), organized by Fondation Theodora and held in Lausanne (Switzerland) on March 11-13, 2026, at the SwissTech Convention Center (EPFL Campus), gathered 673 researchers, medical staff, policy-makers, healthcare clowns, and representatives of the civil society, coming from 44 countries around the world, to discuss professional standards and best practices; extend and enhance the quality and impact of such practices in hospital settings and in situations of crisis and humanitarian emergency; promote research; and raise awareness.

RED NOSES, who participated in the conference also with the support of Alta Mane, played a key role in facilitating the exchange of this knowledge and the dissemination of best practices, strengthening its exemplary role in the field of healthcare clowning. In fact, in collaboration with 5 partner organizations from its international network (RED NOSES Austria, RED NOSES Croatia, RED NOSES Lithuania, RED NOSES Poland, RED NOSES Slovenia), made a strong and multifaceted contribution to the conference program, spanning artistic, research, advocacy, and organizational dimensions, by delivering 18 distinct contributions,  including presentations, posters, interactive workshops, debates, and panel discussions on the different fields of action and numerous contexts of application of healthcare clowning, offering participants new perspectives and effective methodological and scientific tools.