After a successful run in 2021, the Circus Village returns to Wales in March 2023 to offer a dedicated training, development and co-creation space for circus practitioners.
The Circus Village is a living, learning and working environment that allows professional and community circus artists to explore, develop and co-create together, sharing experiences and skills and testing new ways of doing. It is the biggest professional development scheme for circus in the UK, and applications for participants in 2023 will open very soon.
The Circus Village will be open to all Welsh and Scottish circus and cross-artform makers, artists, technicians, thinkers; and to the curious creative circus collaborators of the future. From aerialists with years of experience to obsessive jugglers, and everything in between. We also welcome applications from artists in England, with places available pending the outcome of a funding application.
Those joining will be able to explore a range of focuses aimed at challenging ways of thinking and doing, as well honing skills and sharing ideas. Focuses will include transitioning into teaching, training skills, challenging your creative practice, creative rigging, and more. The Village is completely free to attend, and all freelancers will be paid a stipend to support their time.
As the host country for the village, and with thanks to support from the Arts Council of Wales, the initial focus of the 2023 Village will be geared specifically towards young people and community participants within the Welsh Circus community and developing the needs and skills of those in it. Much of the programme will be delivered bilingually and there will be a distinct focus on the Welsh language.
Applications for 2023 will open very soon, and further details will be announced in due course. For more information, please visit www.thecircusvillage.org or contact us on [email protected].
The Circus Village is a response driven by a partnership of circus companies and individual artists to, in some small way, try to address the void of genuinely accessible professional development opportunities for UK circus artists.
The project is supported by funding from Arts Council Wales, Creative Scotland and Arts Council England.
