Circus in Finland often gets held up as an example of how a European country with the proper resources and a supportive government can foster the development of circus arts among its people and allow a fledgling contemporary art form to thrive. We had the opportunity to speak with Communications Representative Johanna Mäkelä of the Finnish association CircusInfo about their many projects, their sister organization Cirko, (Finland’s premiere circus center), and about how circus has grown to be a cherished art form in their country.

  How many circus schools and companies are there in Finland? What does it mean that CirkusInfo is their contact point? There are currently about 20 full-time contemporary circus companies and around the same number of solo artists, duos, collectives and working groups in Finland. We estimate around 250 circus professionals working in Finland, both performing and teaching circus skills. CircusInfo Finland serves the professional circus field with information, contacts and networking opportunities. We organize workshops and mentoring for circus professionals in order to increase their potential for success because we feel that each company offers something unique to the international market with performances that are a fruitful synthesis of the Nordic aesthetics combined with the mystery of the art form. So we collaborate with organizations and institutions to increase exposure to Finnish circus so that the artists also can benefit from it. ...