CircusNext+

Contemporary circus is a blossoming sector despite diverse levels of recognition in Europe and an unequal distribution of higher education opportunities. Its cultural players are faced with many challenges: - emerging circus creators have to integrate a very tight labor market, in a difficult economic environment. As artistic creators, they are also “multi-hats” project leaders; - cultural operators must support these emerging creators in all dimensions of their endeavors (artistic creation, production, structuration, communication,…). Two observations are the starting point of the CircusNext+ project: - emerging circus creators have sometimes difficulties in bridging the gap between the notion of “authors” and that of entrepreneurship, - cultural operators must develop their skills to support and raise the awareness of these emerging creators. Six Partners have gathered to carry out CircusNext+ over 3 years: Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe (FR), La Grainerie (FR), La Central del Circ (ES), Cirqueon (CZ), Subtopia (SE), and Latitude 50 (BE). The Partners share the same values in terms of artists’ accompaniment, i.e. support: - we believe in a human and benevolent relationship to the artists that is quite different from a business relation, - we offer an accompaniment that is often detached from the pure diffusion of their shows and have a strong commitment to build a partnership with the artists and to follow them up on a mid-/long-term scale, - we act as “outside eyes”, sometimes as guides but never as substitute of the project leader, - we position ourselves beyond business relations to our peers: we keep our freedom of speech and critical analysis despite our links to the artists we accompany. We don’t position ourselves as their “artistic agents” or as their “marketers”. Our objectives are as follows: - development of an entrepreneurial spirit and related skills by contemporary circus creators, - competences development of cultural operators who accompany circus creators in Europe, - experimentation of an innovative way to raise the profiles of artists and operators through a genuinely European cooperation and concerted support for the artists. In order to achieve these goals, we will select 5 emerging circus companies and set up the following actions: - joint staff trainings for the Partners’ teams: they will allow for exchanges and knowledge transfer regarding skills in artists’ accompaniment (artistic creation, production, business models, communication, developing work opportunities,…), - collective and team labs for the selected circus companies that will offer them training and accompaniment on the diverse aspects of their projects, by outside eyes and by the Partners themselves. - an evaluation of the process and of the results of the project; a first definition of a competences framework for cultural operators and artists; video and digital documentation throughout the project. All the Partners will be equally involved in the project, participating in all the actions, hosting workshops, and cooperating in an open and benevolent environment. The circus companies will be accompanied by all 6 Partners over the whole period of CircusNext+. Through this project, we wish - to enhance the European dimension of our practices, - give a better visibility to our accompanying missions that are often the “immerged part of the iceberg”, - develop an innovative approach to accompanying circus creators thanks to a multicultural and diverse group of partners, - develop our skills at accompanying circus creators in today’s context, - raise the awareness of emerging circus creators on their position as project leader and empower them as entrepreneurs. We will realize an evaluation and a documentation that can be shared and used by performing arts professionals, cultural operators, institutions, policy-makers, artists, art schools… We hope for a mind shifting and an awareness of the new competences emerging circus creators need to acquire. The skills developed within the project by the Partners’ staff and the participating artistic teams will have long-term benefits, both for the selected creators and for future generations of contemporary circus authors.