CircusNext is a European project, led by the French organisation Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe 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 2015-2016 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 June-November 2015 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 2015-16 is:
27 February 2015: Application deadline
June 2015: Shortlisting of 15 creation projects
June-November 2015: Preparation for the selection
23-27 November 2015: Selection Week in Neerpelt, Belgium; seven projects selected
December 2015 - May 2016: Support phase (grants, residencies, mentoring)
May-June 2016: 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
For more on the CircusNext project and how to apply see here. Applications for this round close 27 February 2015.