Here is a message from the organizers of Young Stage, reminding circus artists that it is time to apply for the festival if they hope to compete in the 2019 event. Plus, some big news follow:

After a wonderful 10th festival edition last May our team is already heading towards the 11th edition of Young Stage which will be held from 10-14 May 2019 in Basel, Switzerland. Here is a short primer to get you started:

The festival consists of four main parts:

• Its a competition and platform for artists up to 27 years of age in the field of contemporary circus (with6 public shows, an expert jury, and many prizes and engagements to be won): For this part of the festival the registrations have been opened recently (open until February 9th, 2019).
• Networking events such as our circus speed dating (when artists and bookers/producers do real speed-dating conversation which is very easy and fun), workshops/panel discussions
• An open air circus spectacle (with performances on different open-air stages / companies who perform open-air, no competition)
• A circus convention (for kids and professionals to train together, professionals inspire and coach the kids, etc.)

Parts 3 and 4 were organized for the first time last May for the 10th anniversary of the festival. As it was a big success, we will continue producing the open-air shows and organizing of the convention. Our intention over all is to support young talent as much as possible, to enable networking among professionals and to present contemporary circus to the audience in Switzerland. We also want to show how much circus has changed in the last 30-50 years and what potential lies in the future of circus.

New Circus Center in Switzerland: Our team has also started to develop a professional circus center in the area of Basel, Switzerland which will offer creation space for companies, workshops for experienced artists and professionals, training for youth, talent training ,etc. The center will become a hub for circus in general in Switzerland and we intend to develop a higher education circus school within the next few years. To collect opinions and to analyze the market, we prepared the following survey for professionals. Please take a moment to complete it:

All the best,

Nadja Hauser

Festival Director / Producer

Related content: 6 Steps to Apply to Young Stage Festival

Main photo courtesy of Barbara Bamberger.