After receiving a grant of €1,249,243 from the European Union's Culture Programme to deliver a five-year programme (2013-2017), CircusNext has launched a call for projects for its 2013-14 round of awards.
CircusNext is a European project, led by the French organisation Jeunes Talents Cirque but involving partners across the continent, that supports the development of new contemporary circus artists/authors through residencies, mentoring and artistic exchange. Its main strand of activity is an annual award – formerly the Jeunes Talents Cirque (Europe) Awards – given each year to a small number of laureates following an open call for applications and a lengthy shortlisting/judging procedure. In 2013-2014 there will be seven laureates who will benefit from a small grant, customised mentoring support, and an extensive programme of residencies.
Around the main award scheme CircusNext are also building a number of other activities – most significantly, a series of labs, at locations inside and outside of Europe, open both to laureates and to unsuccessful award applicants.
Individuals or companies can apply for CircusNext with contemporary circus projects. There's no age limit, but applicants should be resident in Europe, should be applying with their first or second creation project, and should not have received significant subsidy for their project elsewhere (or have been selected in a previous CircusNext / JTCE). Students and artists in full-time training are not eligible.
Project applications are initially reviewed and assessed by a judging/reading team and a project shortlist is drawn up. The shortlisted artists/companies are then invited to show an extract of their project at Neerpelt in Belgium; from these the judges select seven laureates to receive the full CircusNext support. From May-December 2014 they receive financial assistance, mentoring and residencies, and at the end of this period present longer extracts of their work in Paris to an industry audience. The timetable for 2013-14 is:
18 October 2013: Application deadline
Mid-January 2014: Shortlisting of 15 creation projects
Mid-January - 20 April 2014: Preparation for the selection
21-26 April 2014: Selection Week in Neerpelt, Belgium; seven projects selected
May - December 2014: Support phase (grants, residencies, mentoring)
December 2014: Public Presentations of the supported projects in Paris
Artists planning to apply are encouraged to contact their regional pole/coordinator for advice and feedback on their application. In the UK, the CircusNext partner is Circus Futures and any questions should be directed to Verena Cornwall on verena@circusfutures.org Circus Futures will also be organising a number of other supporting actions for shortlisted UK artists, including national residencies and show and tell sessions, the full programme of which will be announced in January 2014.
For more on the CircusNext project and how to apply see here. Applications for this round close 18 October 2013.