in fall 2017. We were just barely able
to pull together the financing to make
an offer. The church accepted our
offer, but then ran into their own
legal and logistical delays. We would
not be able to close on the property
until late summer and Circadium’s
opening day was September 5.
In the end, our settlement date was
September 1 — which was also our
final day of summer camp in the old
building—and so we held a parade,
marching from the old building to the
new, with kids on stilts and unicycles
and waving banners (and adults in
vehicles, moving all of our props,
furniture, and supplies!) It was a very
intense weekend, and it culminated
with the welcome of our Class 1.
Circadium was formed both to meet
a need (of young people who want
to be professional circus artists)
and to set a trajectory. We believe
that American contemporary circus
is stuck in a vicious cycle of poor
funding,
sprawling
geography,
skeptical audiences, and pessimistic
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artists. In order to break this cycle,
some major steps are needed. Higher
education is one of them. Higher
education is how we grow more
sophisticated artists (more on that
below)—and it’s also how we relate
circus to the wider world.
HOW DO WE GROW SOPHISTICATED
ARTISTS?
There is no denying that we want to
have the best space and the best
coaches. But all circus schools want
that. We want something else: a
3-year time commitment with a very
clearly-designed, mission-focused
curriculum that gives the students
time and space to develop their own
path. To this end, we spend a lot of
time researching how artists evolve,
and how young people achieve self-
sufficiency.
take courses in subjects such as
Music, History, Writing, Stage Tech,
Prop-Building, Costume Design, and
Photography.
But in the end, we have no gurus,
and education is what you make of
it. If we accomplish nothing else, we
must teach our young artists to be
independent thinkers, and to take
responsibility for securing their own
livelihoods. There will be no handouts
waiting for them upon graduation.
International networking is critical
in the development of Circadium’s
worldview. One of our Advisory
Board members, Jay Gilligan, is the
Head Teacher of Juggling and Object
Manipulation at the University of
Dance & Circus in Stockholm. I asked
him about how expectations of circus
artists have changed over the years.
JAY
SAYS:
With the recent growth of infrastructure, politics, and institutions
surrounding circus in the past few decades, circus artists now need
to navigate a much more structured and nuanced environment. They
need to be more aware of context and have a much more defined
agenda (or at least know who or what they are serving). There is
a conservatism in the system of how circus is sold and seen, and
this translates into the type of supported work itself—artists are
expected to "play the game" and fill these roles to keep the whole
machine moving forward. At the same time, they are also often
tasked with being wildly inventive and hyper personal... both qualities
that do not exactly square with a conservative approach. And like
everything else, the Internet has accelerated the culture as a whole,
to the point where circus artists have to be excellent at business
now more than ever. With more funding opportunities also comes
the need to justify why circus (or even art in general) should exist,
something that many older performers did not have to deal with in
this context.
We certainly provide our students
with expertise. In addition to high-
level circus technicians, our faculty
includes theatre artists, dancers,
and academic instructors. During
their three years, the students will
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