We caught up with the brilliant and insightful William (liam) Woodard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

William (Liam), thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve worked on many meaningful projects in my career as a clown and an instructor, in part because the work of the clown is human connection, and so each and every project is full of meaning, you never know how important a simple positive experience will be for someone.
That said, I’m currently getting to participate in a virtual exhibit/art sale that is a fundraiser for a cause that’s very dear to my heart. An organization called Trans Rescue does exactly what it implies in the name. They help trans refugees flee hostile situations/countries and get set up somewhere safe.
As a trans man myself, who’s just recently fled a state where I saw too many proposed laws that would endanger me, I feel that getting people out of even more dangerous situations and to places where people can live their lives as themselves is an incredibly valuable mission.
I feel very lucky to be able to participate, and I hope that we can make a difference for this amazing organization.
If you want to know more, all the details are available here:
https://rescue-trans-rescue.glitch.me/

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Sure, I started juggling when I was a kid, after seeing a local juggling club in the atrium of the children’s science museum, and begging my mom for an instructional book. I didn’t really think much about it other than as a party trick until after graduating college. I was regularly singing and playing guitar at open mic nights, when a friend introduced me to an amazing woman (who they would go on to marry) who asked us if we wanted to learn how to eat fire. It may have been late on a work night by the time the question was floated, but who turns down that opportunity? Not me, that’s for sure. She’s a very accomplished performance artist, and introduced me to many fantastic skills. I quickly became hooked, but it was definitely still a hobby for me.
When I took an opportunity to move to Dallas for better job options, I sought out someone to continue playing with flow arts with and found the Circus Freaks, a performing company that hosted a biweekly open practice space. Eventually I found myself volunteering at one of their regular events, and then later joined the company as a tech and then as a clown.
I’d always enjoyed performing, dance, music, but clown; clown I love. It’s emotionally connected performance, and I can bring any and all of those skills and more to it. My time performing as a clown with the Circus Freaks was absolutely splendid.
When the pandemic hit, I realized that I couldn’t endanger audiences by bringing people together, and so had to go on a performance hiatus. I filled the time with training acrobatics and starting a podcast with my clown and acrobatics partner Russ Sharek. Eventually I had the opportunity to move, not just out of Texas, which had become a necessity for me, but to a wonderful location just outside of Pittsburgh, PA where I’m now in the process of renovating an old building to build a clown school and creative residency location with a few of the core members of the Circus Freaks team. I’m enjoying playing with mixed media when I’m not busy doing reno or practicing acrobatics, and I can’t wait to get back to training, teaching, and performing.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think at some point in my childhood I learned the lesson that one should avoid being wrong if at all possible. Doing or saying the wrong thing *was bad*. As an adult looking back, I don’t know whether I was worried about ridicule, teasing, punishment or what. I considered myself to be smart, and I had ADHD. I think that I felt that if I could be right about things, I could correct for my impulsively and distractedness. However I reached that conclusion, it was a lesson I very much had to unlearn. If I am unwilling to make mistakes, I won’t do anything new. Learning happens when you get things wrong, much more than when you get things right. Clown and improvisational theater training went a long way to help me unlearn that lesson, so did learning to build things (clowns tend to be their own prop makers). Try and fail, try again, fail again, repeat till things look like/behave like/become what you want them to.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Something that I think those who consider themselves to be non-creatives may struggle to understand about my journey is that there is nothing that separates me from anyone else but choosing to act on my creative impulses …a *lot*. Creativity is something that everyone is capable of, and something worth cultivating in oneself, no matter how “childish” it may feel. Creativity is inherent in problem solving, and everyone has to navigate problem solving, at least sometimes.
Whether you choose to adopt the label “creative” or not, indulging in whatever creative pursuit fills you with joy, or calm, or contentment is worthwhile. Whether that’s doodling in notebook margins, whistling while doing the dishes, playing make-believe with the children in your life or recording hours of guitar solos on the cassette tapes you refused to get rid of. Play with creativity whenever you can. You don’t need to let it sweep you up into joining the circus, but it does the heart good to play.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://circusfreaks.org
• Other: Personal site: https://socialgaff.whirling.top
  Mastodon: https://cathode.church/@SocialGaff

Image Credits

Russ Sharek
Circus Freaks
John Allen Grant
Wetdryvac