The New Old Order

 

The Brigade Council has come up with the first draft of the criteria for where a new Brigade should go.

1. Children's Hospital or Ward to perform in.

2. Ethnically Diverse Community.

3. Not in a city with a MACA Troupe.

4. Easy to travel to via mass transit.

 

We have come to the conclusion that there are many cities that we might start a Brigade in. With the slow demise of clowning in the United States someone should start training new clowns. 

The list so far is....

 Akron, Ohio

Albany, New York

Boston, Massachusetts

Buffalo, New York

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Detroit, Michigan

Dover, Delaware

Flint, Michigan

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

London, Ontario

Newark, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Richmond, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia

Toledo, Ohio

Toronto, Ontario

Virginia Beech, Virginia

We will put out feelers and see where the Third Brigade will be founded.

A New Order

 

The Steel City Clown Brigade was once part of a larger group that no longer exists. That organization maintained the curriculum we use to train new clown, bought insurance, made equipment and those sorts of things. 

Without them we have been doing that sort of thing ourselves. With possibility of forming a couple new Brigades over the next couple years we have decided to try and restart some bit of that glory. 

It was Bayley Brown from SCCB that came up with the new name for what will one day be our parent organization. We are still working on the logo. The current logo was created by Rosetta McBride. It recalls the roots of where our order was started. 

2024 Mid Atlantice Clown Association Convention

 

The Mid Atlantic Clown Association will have it's 2024 convention November 6th-10th at the Red Lion Inn in Harrisburg PA.

We had a really great time in 2023 so I would like to encourage everyone to attend next year.

On a important not to the Brigade we have decided to make it our years convention. We had been looking at COAI and WCA neither would meet  our needs. 

We will be teaching a couple classes next year that we are putting together as I type this. We will also have a table in the vendor's room. So clear some time and join us. We would would love to have you.

A Terrible Mistake

 Things went a little strange during lock down. I did a single episode of a cooking show. Here it is. 

If anyone wants to see another episode let me know.

Z

New Cirriculum Materials

We have been spending a fair time during the pandemic working on some of the behind the scenes work in the Brigade. This has been a nagging and continual process that never seams to be complete. For some reason we have not had the opportunity to get things together. 

For many things like Magic and Juggling it is simple. You get a good book on the subject and write a curriculum.

There is no good book on basic clowning. So we have written a few lessons and we fill in the blanks every time we teach a class. 

I looks as if we may have a complete curriculum for our basic clowning proficiency. Here is Buddy with the part 1 of the Pickled Herring Proficiancy.

Well I am excited about this. I know no one else is. So for that reason here is a picture of Buddy with it.

Calendar Update, Classes and Paperwork

 Just wanted to check in and state we are starting a new round of basic clowning classes. These are very important to new people to the group. They will be Tuesday at 6:00 PM in the Clown office or online. If you are attending online please let me know so I can send you the materials that go with each class. The more physical classes like locomotion and clown pantomime will be during the Sunday juggling practice at CMU. 

The website calendar has been updated to reflect the new classes and the juggling meetings at Pitt. By the way Pitt, finally, has a juggling club again. The old folks, like myself will remeber fondly going to Pitt and throwing things around at the Cathedral of Learning. Currently these events will be taking place in the Assembly Room at the Pitt Student Union. It is a wee bit more comfortable than the Cathedral.

Also it is the start of a new year. This means paperwork for all the Brigade Members, Yay. So please get your paperwork at what ever meeting you are attending.

Still Making Balls

We are still plugging along at making balls. Here are the solid color balls we are making. We have them made in duck cloth in all the common colors. We also have black in denim. Over the next couple months we are going to have blue and light blue denim. 

At the moment we are still having a bit of trouble getting colored duck cloth. We can't find a reliable source for pink or navy blue.

 If there is a color you would like to see let us know.