The Circus Village FESTIVAL site was located at:
Swansea Recreation Ground, Mumbles Road, Brynmill, Swansea, SA2 0AU, Wales
the Circus Village 2023
The Circus Village was 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 village has been a creative space; a living, learning, and working environment. A place for circus artists to explore what we do, what we can learn from each other, to try and test new ways of doing things – all whilst celebrating every aspect of the circus artform we share, together.
Borrowing from the Big Top touring culture we all know and love, the village site in 2023 housed four circus tents and a varied programme of activity. We were especially interested in providing opportunities for mid-career artists with ambition to develop their practice, and artists from outside the mainstream.
The Circus Village in 2023 had 3 main programme areas, Youth & Community Focus, Professional Development and Residencies, before ending with The Circus Village FESTIVAL; a 4-day public festival showcasing talent from the residencies and participants at the Village with Big Top performances, a circus cabaret show, Circus Sector Day and Free Family Fun Day.
The village site was accessible and inclusive. It was free to attend, with travel and subsistence covered. Childcare and financial bursaries were also available to those in need.
The Circus Village & Festival Video
Village Gallery
Photography by Mark J Robson and Mary Wycherley
Phase 1: Welsh Youth & Community Focus
As the hosting country for the village, the initial focus was geared specifically towards young people and community participants within the Welsh Circus community and developing the needs and skills of those in it. This involved a 3-day period for young people and organisations working with young people, followed by a second 3-day period for teachers, community participants and non-professional artists looking to develop technical, teaching and performance skills.
There were be valuable opportunities throughout both periods for everyone to learn, develop, collaborate and grow. Elements of the programme were delivered bilingually and there was the opportunity to create work in the Welsh language.
Phase 2: Challenging Your Creative Practice & Professional Development
This was the largest strand of the programme lasting over 6 weeks and an opportunity to energise and engage with our artistic selves. Working in small groups over 3 or 6-day of intensive residencies with different directors and practitioners we worked with circus professionals to inspire ideas within themselves and each other.
With provocateurs and facilitators from a wide range of different backgrounds with different skill sets, we focused on the breadth of our performative and technical abilities.
Strands included; Choreography of the Circus Body, Residency with a Director, Creative Rigging and Technical Elements, Experimental Circus R&D, Stagecraft & Performance, Developing Your Own Idea, Working Outdoors and Performance Protest.
Outside of the timetabled sessions, there was plenty of time built into each day to train together and try things out.
Phase 3: Residencies
A new addition to the 2023 Village were the funded Creative Residencies. We were able to support creative residencies for artists and companies from Wales, Scotland and England (benefiting 62 artists overall). Many of their productions were featured as performances and work in progress showings as part of The Circus Village FESTIVAL at the end of the village.
Creative Residencies included: NoFit State Circus, The Revel Puck Circus, Circus Purposeless, Kitsch & Sync, Poppy Plowman, Leyton Williams, Claire Crook, NoFit State Circus and Circus Zambia.
The Circus Village FESTIVAL
The Circus Village FESTIVAL was a 4-day circus festival brought to you by NoFit State Circus and friends at the Recreation Ground in Swansea from 13-16 April 2023, marking the end of The Circus Village programme in Swansea.
It brought together contemporary circus artists from across the UK and presented performances developed on-site at The Circus Village in the lead up to the festival.
NoFit State’s Big Top production SABOTAGE was headlined the festival alongside The Wing Scuffle Spectacular by The Revel Puck Circus. Work in progress showings form the Village included; The Big Erection by Circus Purposeless, Bitchcraft by Kitsch & Sync, Turk(ish) by Poppy Plowman, Smile by Leyton Williams.
It hosted The Village People Circus Cabaret Night featured break-out performances from participants and artists of The Circus Village, developed in the lead-up to the festival.
The Festival also hosted a Free Family Fun Day with walk-about performances, free circus activities for all ages and much more alongside Big Top and outdoor performances, including free, pay what you feel, and ticketed events.
Festival Gallery
Photography by Mark J Robson and Mary Wycherley. The Wing Scuffle Spectacular Photography by TeklaSzőcs
circus sector day
Thursday 13 April | 11am - 1.30pm
The Circus Village was the biggest sector development programme for circus artists in the UK. On Thursday 13 April, we are welcomed producers, promoters, festivals and venues from the UK and beyond to join us to become empowered, confident and brave in programming all forms of UK circus any and everywhere, including Big Tops. Talks included: “How to bring the Big Top to you”, “Programming circus in venues”, and “Circus Everywhere”, with a focus on outdoor performance. Speakers include Billy Alwen of Cirque Bijou, programmer of Glastonbury’s big-top Jade Dunbar, and Andrew Loretto of Winchester Hat Fair.
Alongside, artists were supported with a series of sessions from development companies including Circus Change Up, Circus Works and Circus Futures. This is the biggest gathering of circus artists, companies and promoters in the UK, and an opportunity for us to bolster our artform and promote it nationally and internationally.
There were two strands on the Circus Sector Day, one for Producer, Promoters, Venues, Festivals and Bookers, the second for Artists & Sector Professionals.
Project supporters
Created with kind support from funders.
Welsh Steering Group
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