Circus News

NoFit State Circus and Circus Space are among the 173 successful applicants announced today for the capacity building and match funding round of the Catalyst fund, a £100 million programme to stimulate private giving launched by Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the DCMS.

The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) – an advocacy and membership body, a venue, a publisher and an archivist for England's indigenous folk arts – has opened applications for a new scheme that offers creative residencies at its headquarters in Cecil Sharp House.

Following on from a previous study conducted in 2006 that took a statistical measure of the health of 66 circus and street arts companies (annual income, number of employees, level of subsidy, etcetera), The Circulation of Street Arts and Circus Artworks in Europe – 2011 collects the same quantitative data from some of the same companies (21 had either closed down or didn't reply) to get an idea of how their situations have changed in light of the global economic crisis. The years compared are 2006 and 2010.

Held within the frame of Greenwich Fair (which is a Dickensian mini-festival held in turn within the frame of Greenwich + Docklands International Festival), XTRAX Shorts is a pitch session for up to sixteen artists/companies to present new outdoor projects to an audience of international presenters and promoters, taking place on 23 & 24 June 2012.

*** Stratford Circus have had a performer pull out from their June Saturday Scratch and are looking to fill the gap (ideally with a 'circus ensemble/group/company of four or more – or another aerialist'). Applications are open again until 5 May 2012. ***

Now a regular feature in Stratford Circus' programming (coming around approximately once a season) Saturday Scratch is an opportunity for artists to showcase new or early-stage work in a supportive environment.

Organised and run by Carampa in collaboration with Teatro Circo Price, Madrid's permanent circus building, CRECE is an annual five-week project which brings an international group of young circus artists together to create, and then perform, a professional ensemble production. The director for this year's project will be actor, teacher and director Hernán Gené.

A year after opening its new centre at Suvilahti, a redeveloped gasworks in a deindustrialised part of Helsinki, CIRKO are presenting the second edition of Cirko Festival, a five-day programme of contemporary circus with a particular focus on new Finnish work.

Gone in 20 Minutes (Gi20) was launched in 2011 as a national showcase to promote new small- and medium-scale outdoor projects. Under the scheme ten artists/companies are supported to produce new work, receiving mentoring and a development grant, then at the public presentations have the chance to show their work to a mixed industry/public audience and to win a Jury and an Audience Prize.

The Council for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is currently seeking applications from outdoor theatre companies for various performance opportunities during the period July – September 2012.