Cirko – Center for New Circus, founded in 2002, is a prominent contemporary circus venue and artistic development centre in Finland. One of the key actors in the field, they promote artistic work, advance artistic thinking, and provide a stage for the performing arts.Cirko recently gained a new Director, Jarkko Lehmus, who has been active in Cirko since 2016, first as a producer and then as Acting Director. With his newly announced position, CircusInfo Finland invited Lehmus for an interview.

CircusInfo Finland (CIF): Let’s first talk about Cirko’s activities today. How extensive are Cirko’s operations at the moment and what are its central forms of activity? Jarrko Lehmus (JL): Cirko’s core mission is to develop circus as an art and support the professionalisation of circus in Finland. Cirko has four main models of activity: artistic development centre, presenter, production house and commercial circus operator. The activities that fall under the artistic development centre operations include the year-round residency programme and all projects. The international networks that Cirko is part of link directly to artistic development. There are ca. 200 circus artists in Finland. On an annual basis ca. 110 artists develop their artistic projects through Cirko’s residency programme. Cirko’s impact on the entire field of contemporary circus in Finland is substantial. The residency programme is currently free for the ...