Circus Producing
By Molly Nicholson
Sometimes, when reflecting on circus producing, I have found it no different to producing other art forms in terms of the fundamental needs, pressures and experience. Other times, I’ve marvelled at the uniqueness of it, its unique characteristics, challenges, and opportunities for social impact.
I asked CHAT GPT how to be a circus producer – it said this, and to be fair, it’s alright – bit dry though..
- Gain Experience in the Circus Industry
- Develop Skills in Production Management
- Network and Build Relationships
- Learn About Circus Business Models
- Gain Experience in Producing Circus Shows
- Stay Updated and Adapt to Trends
- Seek Opportunities and Take Initiative
- Continuously Learn and Grow:
But why is circus a specialism?
For me here’s some of the reasons I love it:
Internationalism of circus: Circus is an artform where internationalism is weaved in. Artists are very mobile; they have learnt in schools across the world, are able to present in festivals where English isn’t the first language.
Whether or not people are collaborating in the rehearsal room, you’ll find artists training together regularly, sharing and developing skills together. This social aspect is also deeply connected to the relationship with each countries historical culture.
I currently lead a company that specialises in socially engaged practice – but before I did this, I worked in a social circus. It is so interesting because where these practices are linked, they are also very, very different
Social circus is a form of community-based circus arts programming that uses circus skills and activities as a tool for personal and social development – it provides empowerment, education, therapy, and community building.
The unique ability that circus has to provide therapy which is both physical and artistic:
In 2018, I undertook work collaborating with circus’s operating within conflict zones; one of the companies I worked with was the Palestinian Circus School which are incredible (you can find more info here) – and really saw how regenerative the skill development was for participants to have access to at the same time as an artistic output – somewhere to tell their story in their own way, which was truly inspirational.
I would love to see some more support for collaboration between social circus, contemporary circus & socially engaged practice – there’s something really exciting there
Some difficulties of circus producing
It’s so obvious, but the circus needs skills, training, and space. What this means. Firstly – basic as it is – circus *should* be more expensive.
Alongside the rehearsal room, you’re also wanting artists to come with tricks…
Tricks take training..
Training takes space and time, which should be paid for—it rarely is; rather, artists are expected to do that on their own time (which we all have buckets of…).
Secondly, performance space is an issue
Whereas in other art forms, circus artist may (in a perfect world) be able to transition slowly from small to medium to large scale spaces with all the pressures of making audience numbers, etc, that go alongside this
With circus, the pressure of increasing scale usually goes hand in hand with stakeholders wanting more tricks – and with more tricks, you *usually* need more space.
So you’re either stuck on the small-scale circuit – or you’re moving into large space quickly.
However, one of the solutions UK Circus is finding is taking contemporary circuses back into tents, creating super interesting, amazing business models which straddle the commercial and subsidies sector.
Take Revel Puck Circus
They work in partnership with local authorities, private developers, and regional theatres to bring their fully autonomous tent to sites and spaces outside of traditional performance settings to activate an area and community through vibrant live performances and local partnerships.
Another difficulty in circus is – where there is growing diversity within the circus community – it has suffered from the same reality many art forms do – being dominated by those from more privileged cultural and socioeconomic groups because of the costs of being in the art form.
However, more and more, we are finding some amazing political, exciting circus in queer arts, cabaret & club culture.
I also run a company called &Friends Productions, a queer company creating community-led work with socially engaged practice at the heart.
Queer arts & Circus arts take similar spaces sometimes – both circus-producing and queer arts play important roles in challenging norms, expanding cultural narratives, and celebrating diversity.
And seeing the incredible, political, radical, fun circus happening in queer spaces is super exciting:
Take a look at these amazing companies
Cocoa Butter Club –
Or
Mimis
ENDING REFLECTION
I’ve been on a bit of a journey with circus personally, through the contemporary circus sector, exploring social circus, & then taking a break recently comping back to the artform. looking at it through a new lens of experience in socially engaged artistic practice.
Definitely, with artists cutting their teeth in different spaces, whether the queer spaces or making their own spaces outside of the subsidised sector, there’s definitely some exciting circus to come.
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Недропользование — это совокупность процессов связанный с изучением и использованием недр. Оно включает добычу природных ресурсов и их рациональное использование. Эта отрасль регулируется законодательством направленными на сохранение природного баланса. Грамотный подход в недропользовании способствует экономическому росту. оэрн