We believe that American contemporary circus is stuck in a vicious cycle of poor funding , sprawling geography , skeptical audiences , and pessimistic artists . In order to break this cycle , some major steps are needed . Higher education is one of them .
ALISON FUNK SAYS :
" Discussions about the role of circus education and the objectives of circus schools are essential to the burgeoning professional circus culture in the United States . The act of discussing the goals of circus programs — and how those goals relate to the goals of individual students and circus artists — pushes us all as a community to think deeply about the diversity programming that can be offered to circus students and the diversity of professional circus forms that exist , not to mention the benefits of learning circus in-and-of itself . In my Masters research at Concordia University , I asked students , coaches , teachers and administrators what they believed to be the goal of their respective circus programs ( the National Circus School and the Ecole de Cirque de Quebec ). Through their responses , I realized that they all perceived circus schools as places where ' circus artists ' could develop . I propose that the framework of a degree helps them achieve knowledge to explore their own artistic voice because of the diversity of courses that are part of the degree . A degree is not essential to becoming a professional performer , but for many , it may help them discover what it takes to become an artist within their form ."
When I began the two-year journey of applying for a state license to become a vocational college , a colleague warned me that the requirements would seem burdensome , but that by the end of it , we would have actually created a functioning higher-education program . He was right — the long hours of syllabi-writing , credit-hour counting , budget spreadsheets , and research on ethics and student policies were all necessary . For the first year we created a 28-page Student Catalog , which seemed immense ! But going into Year 2 , we have already learned a lot , and this year ’ s Catalog is 41 pages . I expect it to continue to grow .
One of the most nerve-wracking parts of our launch process was the facility . We spent several years hunting for a permanent building for Circadium ; the old rental space we had — at 5000 square feet — would not have been large enough .
The perfect property , a Catholic church with 30,000 square feet of studio space and a beautiful green campus , came on the market
We believe that American contemporary circus is stuck in a vicious cycle of poor funding , sprawling geography , skeptical audiences , and pessimistic artists . In order to break this cycle , some major steps are needed . Higher education is one of them .
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