1. Mooseburger Clown Arts Education - I cannot say enough good things about this. The fact that I've been there twice and I'm going back again this summer, should say a fair amount though. ALL levels of clowns are welcome and everyone has more to learn. There are special guest instructors every year as well as an extensive regular staff including Pricilla Mooseburger (Tricia Manuel), Fred Baisch, Karen Bell, Greg and Karen DeSanto, Christopher Hudert, Connie Kennedy, Dan Langwell, Brenda Marshall, Marcella Murad, Rex Nolen, and Terry Ricketts.... there are many other fantastic staff members as well. Instructors are all around you the whole week, eating meals with you, sleeping in the same facilities... they are just completely available to help you with just about anything. It's a whole week of full days of classes, culminating in the presentation of a huge stage show. The cost is frightening to look at first off, BUT when you consider that there are no other costs for hotels or food (except for the fact that I need to be gluten and dairy free, so I bring some special stuff for myself), the amount you pay for this is a steal!! 5 nights in a hotel type room, all your meals and snacks provided, 4 full days of classes with the best in the biz, being part of a stage production and making friends for life... it is totally worth every penny.
2. Face Painting workshops and conventions - Thus far, I have mainly invested in full day face painting workshops rather than conventions. You can occasionally find something within a day trip to do workshops with people like Nick and Brian Wolfe (of Evil Twin FX), Mark Reid, Marcella Murad or many other fantastic painters. If you can afford to travel and spend a little more, there are conventions like FABA in Florida where you'll find many more instructors in one place and multiple classes and competitions. You'll be paying a lot though for conventions since there is not only the admission fees but hotel and food expenses as well... not to mention travelling to Florida.
3. Balloon Twisting classes and conventions - I've found these to be a little harder to come by since so many balloon classes seem to be at the beginner level. There are a couple of conventions I believe, but I've been sticking to mostly day trips for classes so far. You can look up things like Twist & Shout or there seems to be a long list here.
4. www.Balloon-Animals.com - there are a lot of great videos on this website to get you started if you've never twisted before or if you're stuck on single balloon creations. I love his style and find his balloons to fit well with my cute style. There are many other twisters online as well, some of them more elaborate in other ways, but you need to find things that you like the looks of for your style of twisting. Sometimes just watching someone else do something a certain way will give you an idea for how to make up your own version too.
5. FABA tv - I haven't started watching it myself yet, but there are many face painting videos online too.
6. Look for classes on the skills you want! - Keep your eyes open at local community centres, colleges, etc. for classes on public speaking, music, puppetry, kid's crafts... whatever you want to learn to improve your craft. Just keep on learning everything you can, you never know where it might take you.
Keep Smiling :D
Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown
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