Documents 

There have been extensive calls for rigorous evaluation of community arts programs, especially over the past fifteen years (Belfiore 2002; Newman et al. 2003; Putland 2008; Galloway 2009; Belfiore and Bennett 2010). There has also been increasing attention to the role of community arts specifically in promoting health (Cox et al. 2010; Stuckey and Nobel 2010; Clift 2012). But what is “health,” and how can it be promoted? Adopting the philosophy of Buen Vivir (Good Living) as a guiding principle for a new society necessarily leads to recognizing that a healthy, inclusive, harmonious, social, and naturally sustainable life – different in...

Bringing together terms like circus and children’s rights may seem at first site uncombined. But what happens if circus get another meaning like…social circus? Circus as a tradition and a way of life is a living universal organism, a worldwide spoken language that is developing and following its own evolution paths. From traditional circus, to contemporary circus and from circus schools for professionals to social circuses, the circus world has a long history in Europe and in the whole world. In the circus communities of today words like “social integration, self--confidence, hope, creativity, taking responsibility, group--work, fun”, and many more, are more than familiar. These are the social circus communities that co--exist with other communities of traditional, modern, contemporary circus, bringing a whole new way of perceiving circus arts. The world of social circus opened for me while I was looking for my internship. Within my studies at Freie University in Berlin under the title “Master in Childhood studies and Children’s Rights” the professors were quite open in the fields we could look for our internship. It was up to the students to write on a children’s rights matter within the place they chose to do their internship, which of course had to do directly or indirectly with children. Having worked for years as a clown--entertainer in children’s parties, a stillt walker and juggler in numerous performances and voluntarily in Ngo’s working with street kids giving theatrical and juggling workshops, the idea of doing my practicum in a circus school for children was more than tempting since nothing like that exists in my country of origin, Greece. During the one month I spent in Cabuwazi children circus in Berlin, I had my first taste on what is a social circus. Having written an article at the end of my internship on how Cabuwazi is a place that promotes and respects children’s rights, the idea of doing a dissertation on social circuses and their work with children and their rights was pretty much established in my mind. Using different tools and facts I will try to support my hypothesis that Social circus projects (SCP) are institutions and organizations that are supporting and promoting children’s rights. With bibliographic knowledge, internet articles and research, series of interviews and personal experience from the author, we will guide ourselves within the history of circus, the placement of circus arts in today’s societies, an analysis on social circuses, leading us closer to see in which ways SCP are promoting and respecting children’s right and which are these rights specifically.[author summary]

This article explores the potential for developing anthropological investigation in the field of social circus – in particular with those projects that work with individuals living with disabilities. The author uses examples of research in Belfast to argue that the applied nature of anthropology is the ideal mechanism for analysing and comparing the emerging field of social circus projects around the world. In this case, anthropological tools were utilised that had a direct effect, not only on understanding the phenomenon of social circus projects but also on raising the levels of quality, leading to a direct improvement on services provided. [editor summary]

This article collection is the product of the Culture Has an Impact! seminar that was held in Tampere, Finland in December 2013. This celebration seminar was the high point of a 5-year run of two national social circus projects administrated by Tampere University’s Centre for Practise as Research in Theatre. The seminar was organized partly in collaboration with the Aladdin’s Lamp network of Pirkanmaa region and the Effective Circus project. The Effective Circus project (2011-2014) continued the work started with the national Social Circus
project (2009-2011). Both projects were funded by the European Social Fund (through the North Ostrobothnia Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Finland). In these projects we established social circus as a permanent part of the Finnish circus scene and the wellbeing services purchased by municipalities. While the first project focused on finding the good practises in social circus teaching, the second project went a little further. The aim was to prove that there are indeed wellbeing effects that can be reached with social circus. The Culture Has an Impact! seminar served as a platform for the project to both broadcast its results,
and to ignite an international discussion on the future of social circus studies globally. As an immediate result of the seminar, a network for circus researchers, The Global Institute for Circus Studies was formed. This publication can be thought to be the first practical product of this new network, as it showcases the work done by many of the founding members of the network. These articles introduce different social circus projects and evaluations going on around the world, from New Zealand and Canada to Finland, France, Italy, Ireland and even afghanistan. We are proud and happy to present this publication and hope it to be the first of many to come! [editor summary]

The Circo Verso seminar represented a step further in the complex process of social circus definition and acknowledgement developing at a global level. Within this broad scope, it brought to focus ethical dilemmas connected to the issues of violence, handicirque, and staging social circus. This handbook attempted to report as accurately as possible on the key questions raised during the seminar, and on the debates which followed. It includes a number of cases illustrating the problematic issues selected for discussion, as well as suggestions and reflections about strategies and methodologies to work with disadvantaged targets, roles and skills required within a team, and ways to assess and monitor social circus projects. Unfortunately, it is hard to account for the inspiring working atmosphere that an exchange between circus operators is always able to create. [editor summary]