Jane Culbert of Wolf Brown shares some interesting insights of the burgeoning Circus Arts field. In recent years, Circus arts training has become more popular and in the main stream. Possibly, the end of the circus era with the closing of Ringling Bros. & Barnum Bailey and the overwhelming popularity of Cirque du Soleil are contributing factors to this ever growing interest. Circus training programs are also mushrooming all over the country, "providing people of all ages and capacities the opportunity to enjoy the challenges and rewards of circus training at the amateur level". Circus arts has also been seen as a medium to further social good and social justice and in this form is known as social circus.
Circus Arts is not quite the same as it was in the past, it has evolved into many forms meeting cultural, social and technological changes of the times. In 2017, at the annual Smithsonian Folklife festival in Washington, D.C., many circus organizations were featured. The National Endownment of the Arts (NEA) also met with dozens of circus organzations and conversed about "the state of the field, marking another step along the path to broader recognition of circus as an art form".
After the meeting, Michael Orlove, Director of Artist Communities and Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, wrote an article that included an uplifting statement for the circus field, “It is our job, collectively, to see that this unique art form receives the requisite attention and unconditional support it so deserves.”
For more information: Circus Arts on the Rise!
Image Credit: Future Stars