Working at Palhaços d'Opital

Join our team

Palhaços d’Opital is a team of professional artists and of people who, behind the scenes, make every visit possible.

If you have training or experience in the arts, or want to put your talents and skills at the service of our mission, we would like to meet you.

Join us and be part of a team that brings joy, art and humanity to those who need it most!

Apply

Artistic team

The Doutores d'Opital are professional actors, clowns and musicians who always visit partner hospitals in pairs. We do not work with volunteer artists, because the hospital environment requires preparation, sensitivity and regularity. Those who join the team receive specific training for the hospital setting and keep training throughout the year, with more than 250 hours annually.

Support team

Behind the visits there are people who take care of communication, management, funding applications, human resources and everything that keeps the organisation running. If your experience is in one of these areas, we would also like to hear from you.

Application process

How it works.

Application

Submit your application using the form on this page.

Review

The management team reviews the application and, if relevant, keeps your details in a secure database.

Contact

If there is a suitable opportunity, we will get in touch for a conversation and, for artists, an audition.

Onboarding

Once recruitment and selection are complete, onboarding begins. New members of the artistic team start with training for the hospital setting.

The Palhaços d'Opital Theory of Change.

From what we do to what we want to last. The map we follow, designed with MAGNA Consultores.

What we do

Activities
  • Regular visits by pairs of professional artists to hospital wards, with music and humour
  • Moments of sharing with family members, companions and healthcare professionals
  • Preparing each visit with the nursing teams
  • Awareness activities on humanising care
  • Recording and measuring what happens on each visit

During the visit

Outputs
  • Regular visits and hours of artistic presence on the wards
  • People in hospital, family members and healthcare professionals who share the moment
  • Data recorded on each visit, to measure what changes

Over the following days

Outcomes
  • People in hospital feel more cheerful and in better spirits
  • Healthcare teams with less stress and a lighter working environment
  • A more humane, less tense hospital environment
  • Stronger social support around people in hospital

What lasts

Impacts
  • A more humane culture of care
  • Art recognised as a complement to clinical care
  • Calmer recoveries (indirect contribution)
  • Less isolation during hospital stays
  • A model that can be replicated

What makes this possible

  • Professional artists with specific training for hospitals
  • Hospitals open to collaboration
  • Stable funding
  • SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Developed with MAGNA Consultores, 2026.