Next Door Circus Magazine Next Door Circus Magazine #2 | Page 40

Case study
Most of the cultural events in Europe are financed by tax money and are not profitable.
In times when local and European governments are cutting funds for a grow
ing number
of players in the cultural and artistic field, it is interesting to investigate the positive side
effects of cultural events: the social and economic benefits in the local community. CIRCa
festival in Auch is one of the biggest and most important contemporary circus festivals in
Europe, and it is a great example of how a festival can bring added value to a region.

The 2014 festival in numbers:

• 32 shows, w 78 performances in total.
ith
• 28 375 tickets sold w 89.33% filling
ith
rate.
• 11 performance venues: 4 for company-owned big tops, 3 for CIRCa big
tops , 1 open air space in the towns square, and 3 theatres
The festival welcomed:
• 16 professional circus companies: in total
184 artists, technicians and administrators
• 860 circus students
• 320 programmers, of which 192 wereFrench and 128 from 42 foreign countries
The festival team is comprised of 297 people, of which:
• 19 are permanent CIRCa staff
• 6 a interns,
• 72 are technicians w short term conith
tracts
• 200 are volunteers
.
Events for professionals:
• 20 meetings for professionals
• 7 artistic meetings
• 6 casual meetings for professionals

Circus shapes the image of the town
Auch is a little town in south-western
France of less than 30 000 inhabitants. It
is known for its Renaissance Cathédrale
Sainte-Marie with its magnificent organ, carved stalls and pink stained-glass
windows, and La Tour d’Armagnac, a
14th-century prison. But since 1975, people associate something new with the
small city of Auch: that is contemporary
circus.
About CIRCa
CIRCA is a major cultural, artistic and
economical player of the City of Auch.
The company has 19 employees and
hosts the equivalent of 33 artists and
technicians in full-time residencies throughout the year. It also hosts Cant’auch
, an employability co-operative which
creates 7 jobs . One third of the funding
comes from the Grand Circa Auch Agglomeration, and CIRCa generates many
economic benefits during the festival and
throughout the year. The festival and its
venue increases quality of life in this town
of 23,000 inhabitants.

Auch restaurant and hotel
This year, the festival
indicates that the busiest
brought together around two weeks of their year
30 000 spectators, of
are the week of August 15
which 192 were proand the week of CIRCa.
grammers from France,
and 128 programmers
A destination for “circus tourism”
from abroad.
It’s hard to arg Ք