Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde isn’t the littlest circus in the world anymore. Although they may have started out that way, they now have a large facility in Bagneux, a suburb of Paris, where they hold to their director Elefterios Kechagioglou’s vision of mixing the circus with many other arts and to work within the community. Following the European tradition of having a dedicated circus structure, they have built a big facility to house all of their activities and shows. Although it has taken many years to create the building, it has taken even longer to build the community exchange, but the results are quite encouraging. For the area people and for professionals looking for a supportive community to develop and showcase their works in progress and to immerse themselves in local culture, Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde is a one stop shopping destination of circus. It’s a facility that welcomes tiny children as well as teenagers and the elderly. It opens its doors to mothers, street artists, hordes of school children, professional circus performers in training and traveling companies who want to connect with the local community or artists. I had the pleasure to speak with Adrien Godard last month about their programs and history.

Hi Adrien, what is your role at Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde (LPPCM)? I’m head of mediation, also known as the media supervisor. It means that I am going between the artists that we have in residencies, and all of the different pupils of the circus school. I also work with the inhabitants of the neighborhood, with whom we do lots of projects. I help create a place where those audiences and those artists can meet, exchange and get to know each other better. That sounds like an amazing job! How long has LPPCM been around? It is! The association was born in 1992. So this year we are going to be 25 years old. A quarter of a century is quite a long time. The association was born in the suburbs of Paris, in a disadvantaged area in a town called Bagneux. The history of the circus is very linked to the area it was born in. It was a project from the people of the neighborhood who wanted to make a better life for everyone through circus. The purpose was to make a ...