American Circus Educators Magazine Fall 2017 (Issue 2, Volume 10) | Page 26

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deliver in front of 800 people in a circus ring, the rest of
the world doesn’t seem so daunting. I’ve watched kids
walk out and think “Yeah, I can do that. It’s going to be
difficult, but I’ve done difficult.” And so many people
want to come back and volunteer. They want to be
counselors and coaches and hang posters. They all just
want to give back.
L/
I know in one of the previous interviews you’d given,
you’d mentioned that the growth of circus in the
U.S. is kind of a trend and that the trend may build up
and eventually fade a little bit. Is that still a concern of
yours? Do you think that circus will find a way to sustain?
E/
I don’t see anything but growth happening for the
youth circus industry for years to come. I believe
that circus is going to go through a revolution. Have you
ever read Duncan Wall’s book, “The Ordinary Acrobat”?
The takeaway for me is that circus reinvents itself every
100 years. We are going through a revolution right now
and the kids are driving it. We are on the wave that is
going to tell us what the next evolution of circus is. I feel
very confident for the youth circus programs. I think
that larger circuses are going to have to listen to the
public and to the grassroots effort that is driving all of
this and the kids who are becoming the new performers
are going to start dictating what the art form is. That’s
what is going to not “save” circus but “define” circus in
its next incarnation. The other element though is a little
like social media: you’re never going to be able to control
it, yet we must find a way to ensure the safety and the
quality of the programs in order to keep this movement
going.
As for Smirkus, I always make the joke, “We’ve been
going out of business for 30 years now.” I think that
the structure and stability that I’ve created provide a
bedrock for this organization and I think that with the
allure and the excitement of circus and the magic of the
kids, the whole industry continues to swell based on
kids’ love of circus. One of the things that we’ve done
from business strategy is having three programs and a
development effort. What we find is that in a year when
ticket sales are down a little bit, our camp registration
saves the day, and then we have a school residency
program and then we do fundraising. These different
programs each work in harmony to support one another.
Our experience has been that all four have never been
down at the same time. That’s a conscious strategy
on our part. That kind of creative approach is going to
maintain this organization for years and years to come.
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L/
E/
So what’s next for you?
Well, I’m hoping to take six months to a year and just
rest. Having said that, we had a kid in our program
this summer from Circus Zambia and I got to meet
him and see the exciting program that is happening in
Zambia right now. And it so heartwarming and so alluring
that my wife and I are going to Zambia in February for
about a month to enjoy that program there and to talk to
them. I just can’t imagine myself not being involved with
circus in some way and, you know, the road is wide and
open. I’ll be in Zambia for about a month.
L/
E/
How did you get connected with them, just though
the one performer who was with you this summer?
Yeah, that’s how I got connected with them, but Ted
Lawrence runs a group called Circus Van Lodostov
out of Vermont, so we’re good friends. His program
started doing exchanges with Circus Zambia and when
Circus Smirkus was in town, they asked if they could
come. When we met them, I asked, “Do any of your kids
want to audition for our show?” That’s how that got
put together. You know, it used to be, and still is, that
circus would go find the things that were odd, bizarre,
and strange and go celebrate them. One of the most
important aspects of circus is its celebration of diversity,
not tolerance, but active recruiting and celebration
of diversity. Smirkus has done 33 cultural exchanges.
We had to slow down after 9/11 and all the immigration
restrictions for a while, but we’ve now started that back
up again. It is so valuable to kids because the American
kids get to see how hard people in other parts of the
world work in order to try and become professional
circus performers, and for the internationals who
come to our program, they remember, oh yeah, circus
is supposed to be fun. That is the primary reason I like
to do international exchanges. That, and the fact that
it just showcases in the ring that people from different
cultures can get along, and not only get along, but do
something that’s triumphant.
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Circus Smirkus participated in the AYCO commissioned
Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality Study about
circus and social and emotional learning outcomes.
The preliminary findings of that study will show that
circus affects social, emotional, and learning skills much
better than all the other school activities like sports and
theaters. We’re finally going to get the data that supports
what we’ve all known all along.
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