From February 21 to 23, the youth organization CircusWorks is bringing the Circus Rising Festival to Circomedia and the Lost Horizon venue in St. Judes. It promises a 3-day circus conference of talks, workshops, and ideas held live in Bristol and online.

Circus Works has been one of the first organizations to experiment with online conferences during the pandemic. In bringing Un-Conference, their weekly member conference, to the screen, they opened up the field to the wider international community.

While Circus Rising continues the spirit of Un-Conference, it aims to aid recovery for members of the circus community who were unable to work during lockdowns, encourage innovation by exploring new technology and ideas, and push to make the circus more inclusive and diverse.

The conference is working with Bristol venue Lost Horizon to enable people outside of Bristol to attend and engage with the talks and workshops. “Lost Horizon has been amazing at helping us set up ways for people to attend online via Zoom and Virtual Reality from wherever they are in the world,” said CircusWorks director Lynn Carrol. “We will also have talks led by people in Canada and Portugal displayed as holograms at Lost Horizon.” Lee Dawson from Lost Horizon adds, “I love to help make people’s ideas real, and being able to bring people from far afield together makes it even better.”

Talks about growing and developing organizations and digitalizing the performing arts are just part of the jam-packed 3-day line up, as well as workshops on juggling, chair yoga, and acrobalance.

While the actual event takes place in Bristol at Circomedia and the Lost Horizon building, the producers will use a mix of online platforms, VR technology, and life-sized holograms to allow virtual participation. The Festival ticket price includes online or in-person access to the event, and 3-day ticket holders will also have access to all session recordings and resources for another 6 months afterwards.

Circus Rising Programme February 21-23rd

Speaker In-person (SIP) 
Speaker Virtual (SV) 
Audience In-person (AIP) 
Audience Virtual (AV)

Monday, February 21st

Registration 9.00, event starts 9.30 (AIP) (AV)

Welcome Event with Peter Duncan & Lynn Carroll (CircusWorks) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Acro movement with Lina Johansson from Mimbre (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Learning Consent through Acrobalance with Sexual Health Circus (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Producing Community Shows with Ali Williams (SV) (AIP) (AV)

International Social Circus Projects with Caravan and its members (SIP) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Growing and developing your organisation with Jenna Hall from Circusful, Belfast (formally Belfast Community Circus) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Lets Create- looking at Arts Council Englands new 10-year strategy and how youth circus can benefit with CircusWorks (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

The Digitalization of performing arts – what do we gain or lose? Patrice Aubertin & Emmanuel Bochud (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

The Circus Doc- Microbends; why they occur & how to fix them with Dr Emily Scherb (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Ideas of Inclusion- new half-day inclusion training developed with European partners with Circus works team Jamie Moore, Mel Stevens & Mis Wells (SIP) (AIP)

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Tuesday, February 22nd

Chair yoga with Anthony Trahair (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Less is More: juggling 1 & 2 balls with Anthony Trahair (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Open Space Technology – CircusWorks (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Sharon Ginnis- Turning Ideas into Dramatic Action (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Circus Change Up- UK network meeting with Kate Webb (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Toby Walker- Teaching juggling- Breakdown and dissection of different juggling moves, and why it is important. (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Functional Juggling with Stiklings (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Circus in Schools with Teo Greenstreet (Greentop) and Sarah Power (Public Health Wales) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

The Circus Awards with Rob Thorburn (Circus Alba, Play Festival) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Confidence by Design with Dr Dean Kriellaars (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

The embodied journey of an idea: An exploration of movement creativity processes in circus arts- Patrice Aubertin & Veronique Richard (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Marion Cossin- Technical Innovation In Circus Equipment Design (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Games (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Emerging- Scarabeus (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Drinn Day- Film partnership with Antitesi Teatro Circo, Italy (AIP) (AV)

Social at Lost Horizon (AIP) (AV)

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Wednesday, February 23rd

Chair Yoga with Anthony Trahair (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Circus & Activism with Robyn Hambrook and Doug Francisco (SIP) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

The Activist Clown with Robyn Hambrook (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Play, Physical Literacy & Coaching in Circus- Natalie Thompson (Stripy Socks, Circusful) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Inclusive Aerial with Mel Stevens (Aim to Fly) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Fostering Creative Potential with Dr Dean Kriellaars (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

Online tools for Circus Teaching & Advocacy (Chatbots, memory sticks & More) with Teo Greenstreet (Greentop), Sarah Power (Public Health Wales), and Pete Duncan (Co-Train, CircusWorks) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Biomechanics & Engineering with Marion Cossin (CRITAC) (SV) (AIP) (AV)

The Circus Awards pt 2 Rob Thorburn (Circus Alba, Play Festival) (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

Performers Without Borders- Gina Disney & Julia Cormack (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

European training tools & projects- EYCO & Caravan (SIP) (AIP) (AV)

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REGISTER AND GET YOUR TICKET TODAY!

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Carolyn Klein

Content Writer -United States

Carolyn Klein is a writer, poet, and circus fan from the Washington, D.C, area. Writing stories about the circus has been a dream of hers since getting introduced to circus fiction around 2014. She recently completed her B.A. in English and Creative Writing, magna cum laude, at George Mason University. As a new member of the Circus Talk journalism team, Carolyn looks forward to learning as much as she can about the industry and people behind circus.

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