An exciting opportunity at The Roundhouse for an up and coming circus producer to be part of the Roundhouse team until 2012. Please have a read of this or pass it on to anyone you think fits the bill and your networks.
Circus Producer Fellowship
Fixed Term
Year One - £18,000 pa
Year Two - £22,000 pa
The Roundhouse has continually pushed boundaries in music and performance. Today it’s a space dedicated to nurturing creative young talent, as well as presenting an eclectic line up of music, theatre, dance and circus.
The Circus Producer Fellowship is an Arts Council England funded position for an up-and-coming Circus Producer to gain experience, support, traineeship and mentoring. The Fellow will work in-house for the Roundhouse CircusFest 2010 and 2012, as well as being placed with leading circus producers and commissioners.
Go along to the National Theatre, Southbank, London on 26th, 27th and 28th of August at 9pm for Industrial Teatrera’s performance of ROJO (Red) and see Square².
“Don’t miss the chance to travel across the dreams with ROJO (Red). You’ll discover new worlds and languages.”
The launch will take place on Thursday 2nd July from 11.30am-1pm as part of the Circus Space Residency at the National Theatre’s Watch This Space
Crying Out Loud are pleased to be part of this Europe wide support programme for emerging contemporary circus artists in Europe and we encourage projects from artist’s that mix circus with other art forms.
What is Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe?
“A support programme for emerging contemporary circus artists in Europe aimed at assisting artistic research for the creation of new performance. We encourage projects that mix circus with other art forms, for example drama, spoken word, digital media, theatre, music and puppetry.”
“Who can apply?
We encourage artists with diverse practice, this includes, but is not limited to, artists from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled people.
There is no age limit
Performances that have already been created are not eligible
You must be resident in Europe
You cannot currently be training in a circus school
Applicants can be solo or as a group
A formal company is not required
Crying Out Loud is now calling for applications”
Taken from the Crying Out Loud website.
On Thursday 23rd April 2009, Arts Council London Office (Vision Team) and ‘elemental’ were delighted to welcome Lyn Gardner , Theatre Critic from the Guardian to an afternoon “of conversations about Street and Circus Arts”.
The following is an account of Lyn Gardner’s keynote address from notes taken during the event at the London offices of Arts Council England by Helga Henry of Fierce Earth. The wisdom below is all Lyn’s the errors and omissions all mine!
Lyn Gardner began by with a vivid evocation of a scene in June 2007 in East London. Something was buzzing on Woolwich High Street: in the trees, a colony of strange pulsing entities inhabit a tree. Nocturnal by nature, as dusk falls they flicker with a phosphorescent glow and emit short surges of a peculiar sound. It was Aswarm’s “Gather”: a commission by Without Walls staged as part of the Greenwich and Docklands Festival.
For that one night, something transforming happened. As young people gazed transfixed, Lyn knew that their image of Woolwich High Street would never be the same again. Just in the same way Lyn herself cannot walk down the Mall now without seeing the Sultan’s Elephant.
Sultan's Elephant by Artichoke. Photo: Matthew Andrews
Street Arts and outdoor performance is easily as transforming as Sir Ian McKellen’s King Lear or the West End’s Billy Elliot, Lyn argued, and is often unlooked for, entirely free and often in heart of people’s own community.
If, as [Chris Goode, director of Signal to Noise] said, “Theatre is the place where people gather to invent the future”, then why shouldn’t everyone be invited to that place? Outdoor performance has no barriers, or certainly fewer of them. The development of outdoor work begs the question; can we stake a claim in the performers’ space like we can in Circus?
A piece such as Punch Drunk, allows the audience to choose how they view the show: giving them a power over their experience rarely seen in traditional theatre.
We have recently enjoyed an unprecedented explosion in new work, and more and more companies understand how to take a show to an audience, which requires a high level of skill as the Street audience is the hardest audience to please. The shows make a political statement simply by being there.
Lyn spoke about Dot Comedy’s “Get Lost”; a giant privet maze where you encounter a variety of characters as you weave around their paths. These characters included figures from Greek mythology. The piece had openness and metaphorical meaning and an exploration on the issues of loss and losing your mind. Good Street and Circus work is always more than it seems.
For those who think that “fireworks are not art”, must not have seen Sticky by Improbable (in collaboration with World Famous), towering edifices of sticky tape which are ethereal beautiful and different. For those who say of jugglers, “A ball is still a ball and nothing else” must not have seen Gandini Juggling.
There is a major problem with British criticism when it comes to street and circus. A problem, Lyn argued, of the willingness of critics to be enablers of the new rather than gatekeepers of established cultural norm.
So that an emerging new writer in a pub will more likely get reviewed in the national media than major companies such as Walk the Plank or Ockham’s Razor. It was apparent in recent Tabu reviews that some critics could not see past he skills displayed to actually review the piece of theatre.
But Lyn advised that the sector also needs to help itself. One of the reasons she was at Woolwich was that she had been informed by good PR that the work was going to happen elsewhere in the UK that year. So it made more sense for a national paper to review it, as opposed to a one-off event.
And the critical landscape is changing. For The Sultan’s Elephant the audience were not lured there by reviews, they were lured by the camera phone as people took shots and sent them to friends. The camera phone became the modern Pied Piper. This was one of the first occasions of arts marketing by phone and the sector could learn from that.
Potentially 1 in 8 of London’s population experienced The Sultan’s Elephant, and there were no violent incidents, everyone was in extreme good humour and displayed enormous generosity of spirit as children were lifted onto the shoulders of strangers so the children could get a better view. The girl and the elephant took a million individual spectators and turned them into a community.
It used to be said that the society that prays together, stays together. Lyn offered a new variation: “The society that plays together, stays together”.
Theatre critic Martin Esslin once noted that “Theatre is a place where a nation thinks about itself in front of itself” and this is especially true in this sector. Street art and circus allows us to reclaim the streets from drunks and security cameras. In public spaces where the citizens are suspicious if people loiter, Street arts bring those spaces back to the people.
Joy is in such short supply at the moment. These performances contribute to levels of national happiness and celebration in the same way as for example, winning the Olympics or the Rugby World Cup.
Great Street and Circus work give us reasons to be cheerful. In this time of economic recession, money could be directed to generate more outdoor work and more happiness. Lyn invited us to imagine what a fantastic thing it would have been if Alastair Darling had decided to invest further in the arts in the recent budget instead of cut!
She felt it was high time we started producing our own elephants and spiders: while there has been a shift at the Arts Council in funding productions there has to be some greater long term funding in skills and infrastructure.
We often think that companies in Europe do the large scale spectacle better, but often they are just better resourced. Lyn reminded us that we, in fact, did it first.
To see how well UK circus does it she urged us to see Tabu, the follow up to Immortal by NoFit State Circus, a riposte to those who say circus is a skill and not an art, a piece where idea and form perfectly matched. A work which is a metaphor for life itself.
Lyn observed that the idea that Street and Circus is just eye candy is prevalent amongst mainstream commentators or practitioners. They borrow from the genres when it suits, but are reluctant to acknowledge its place in our theatre culture. Particularly a theatre culture which appears obsessed with text and the classical cannon.
Lyn recalled Vesturport version of “Romeo and Juliet”, an aerial show by an Icelandic company which demonstrated such swagger and confidence from younger theatre cultures which is less well developed. Lyn suggested that sometimes the past can be a burden.
But, Lyn warned, while it’s good to look back, better not to stare too much or will turn to stone.
Lyn agreed with producer Bill Gee that Street and Circus were something of a Cinderella sector, allowed out to the ball when there’s an Olympic moment or a ball but then sent “back to kitchen duties”.
When people became aware that there was likely to be an increase in the allocation of Arts Council money for the theatre, and that street and circus money would be funded from the theatre “pot”, the quality of the work went up a notch even before the increased funds were allocated. The aspirations and amibitions of the sector had been raised.
In the past some Street and Circus companies chose to work on the outside, but surviving on the crumbs from the table rather than having a place on the table leads to survival mentality and lack of self-criticism. As with some children’s work from 20 years ago, practitioners can get caught in a cul-de-sac on their own.
There is an issue of quality. There is lots of fantastic work but many companies are unable to develop work, especially on a larger scale because of relative scarcity of funding. Those that do, end up being more expensive to buy than EU well-funded counterparts. When we do it, the results are spectacular. But we have to invest in it – just as we invest in new writing or Royal Opera House. Even in France Royal de Luxe – the company behind the Sultan’s Elephant - is the exception rather the rule as regards state support.
But sometimes an increasing technical competence is not matched by artistic vision, Lyn gave an example of World Famous and their piece “Full Circle”, which, while beautiful to look at and awe-inspiring, lacked narrative structure.
But unlike theatre, Street and Circus work takes a while to develop and this is worrying when 2012 is just around the corner.
We have to make a special case for street and circus. It is not like theatre. It can’t just find a room and set up. This issue is pressing. The recognition of art forms has a great deal to do with critical mass. Lyn suggests that we need dozens of young circus companies because that’s what is required in order to get to have a company on Olivier main stage at the National.
Sharing and collaboration really important, Tabu was great but the script was weak. Lyn couldn’t help but wonder whether it would have been very different they’d had sufficient budget to work with a dramaturg.
There has been some limited exchange between theatre directors and circus artists, there is a need for more of those schemes. Wouldn’t it be great to commission a writer of the calibre of Mark Ravenhill or David Eldridge to write for Bash Street Theatre? A great number of Street and Circus companies use text in radical and different ways. And provocatively, Lyn suggested that those writers would get bigger audiences in one performance on the street than in a whole season at a playhouse.
Lyn was aware that there was some upset in funding re-allocation last year, and the belief that theatre is a new writing culture is being challenged by street and circus arts. The picture has changed dramatically, critics, funders and programmers are behind what is happening with circus and street arts and with audiences.
Lyn also proposed that mainstream buildings could be encouraged to collaborate meaningfully with other companies. For example, the National Theatre has now embedded puppetry in its cannon through doing “War Horse”. She suggested making the mainstream houses, through funding agreements; collaborate with other sectors including Street and Circus in order to see the difference it will make.
In conclusion, Lyn left a clarion call ringing around the room:
“Small amounts of money have made a change. Large amounts could cause a revolution.”
ENDS
Lyn went on to write on her Theatre blog on the 28th April: ‘Theatre should get serious about circus’, which up to today has had 38 comments and has stirred up some mixed opinion!
Were you at the London event? What were your thoughts on Lyn’s speech? How do you see the future of the sector?
Please use this posts or any related posts to make comments generally or about the event, speakers and themes that emerged…make it a place for discussion!
Ajay Chhabra is an actor and director whose work can be seen outdoors in public spaces, inside theatres, on television and film and on radio.
He is a director of his own company, nutkhut (mischievous), a leading London-based creative organisation working nationally and internationally which combines theatre, dance, music, circus and film, to create imaginative, witty and visually stunning performances and installations with a popular appeal. He completed an Arts Council Directors Bursary with physical theatre specialist David Glass and has worked with designer Keith Khan, comedy director Cal McCrystal and live art wiz Tatsuo Miyajima.
He made his debut as an actor in Untouchable in 1989 (Riverside Studios); He played Sidney in Kafka’s Dick (not as writer Alan Bennett, expected!) and made his West End debut in Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink. For television he has appeared as India’s first Prime Minister and is familiar as the demented and stingy café shop owner, Anil, in the children’s cult classic, The Basil Brush Show. His many film credits include Anita and Me and a guest appearance in ‘Bend it Like Beckam’. He has worked on BBC Radio 3 and 4, including The Archers (as a visiting vicar!) and their Schools Radio programme, Come to Kochi, which he presented from Kerala, India.
Ajay is of Indo-Fijian heritage and was born in London and raised in Kent. He trained as an Hotelier in the UK and Austria before embarking on a career in the arts. He studied Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London and Hotel Management at the University of North London, completing his training in Austria. He has worked in all aspects of the Hotel Industry, ranging from international chains to boutique hotels.
Current Projects include a new television series for the BBC ‘Planet Ajay”, development of Birmingham Town Hall’s 175th Anniversary with mass dance participation and a ‘Stilts and Character Training Scheme’ involving young people form all the Olympic boroughs in London.
He is a board director and trustee of Visiting Arts and founder chair of the European Mela Network.
Here is a couple of bulletpoints about Ajay’s presentation:
Nutkhut is one of the newest RFO’s in the Arts Council London Office’s portfolio.
Bollywood Steps and Movieplex are their most recent works.
Nutkhut are an artist led company so rely on producers for an outside eye.
They define themselves by ideas
Were you at the London event? Have you seen Nutkhut’s work?
Please use this posts or any related posts to make comments generally or about the event, speakers and themes that emerged…make it a place for discussion!
Roger Hartley is the Director of Bureau Of Silly ideas
About Roger:
Roger Hartley started out behind the stage as a techie, but one day ventured onstage and decided he quite liked it. Now he combines technical know how and imagination with an innate desire to engage people with the built and being built environment.
He was born in Calgary, Canada in 1966, and then his parents moved back to Wales. He got into photography, then managing grunge bands, then radio, then any kind of film, video or appliance he could get his hands on to create something new.
Since the early 90’s he has worked predominantly in theatre on the street, founding the Bureau Of Silly ideasin 2002 with Claire Horan, and starting work on ‘the burst pipe dream’ a large, long term project using theatrical devices and elements of circus, embedding them into real construction projects changing everyday machinery and situations into exciting possibilities. He is most well known for Sid N’ Nancy the radio controlled wheelie bins, and the amazing Robot Horses.
He is also amazing at losing keys, but only in the process of thinking up some new, fun, theatrical intervention, so it all pans out in the long run.
The presentation:
Roger talked dynamically and comically about the work of the Bureau Of Silly ideas, extremely engaging and funny to summarise here are a couple of bulletpoints about his presentation:
Noting is impossible when you work in the Circus – Just awkward heavy and expensive
Previous work includes Sid and Nancy (the wheelie bins),
Burst Pipe dream with Big Oriental Squid Inc.
For 2012 BOSi have already started discussions with local Olympic boroughs who now have cultural officers, these changes have made a big difference.
Of course, his full presentation is available to download by clicking here.
Were you at the London event? Have you seen BOSi in action?
Please use this page or any related pages to make comments generally or about the event, speakers and themes that emerged…make it a place for discussion!
Rachel Clare, Producer and Artistic Director of Crying Out Loud.
Rachel Clare established Crying Out Loud in 2001 as a new company to produce and tour dynamic new performance with the help of a Producers Bursary from Arts Council London. Previously she was instrumental in trail blaizing the role of the freelance creative producer and developed a new way of thinking about programming by combining and producing work across many art-forms for any location on any scale.
She has worked with a vast number of artists in UK and overseas combining circus, theatre, dance and visual arts in performance. Her main achievements before and alongside Crying Out Loud include: The Great Outdoors festival 1992-99 at SBC; the Easter Delirium season at the QEH; The Catch at Lyric Hammersmith 2000-05; Free Time at Somerset House; Circus Programming Associate at The Roundhouse 2005-07 and curator for Manchester International Festival’s The Great Indoors 2007 and 2009.
Crying Out Loud is about to launch City Circ, a new network of inner and outer London venues, an ‘alliance’ for contemporary Circus Arts in London. This will include a ‘curated’ season from April to August across London to firmly establish circus in theatres across the capital.
COL continues to develop the regional touring circuit of mid and large scale venues and is also a lead partner on a cross channel project to tour and produce new Anglo/Franco circus performance work between northern France and southern England. Rachel is also a member of the European Informal Circus Network now part of Circostrada since 2001.
Rachel talked about her work with Crying Out Loud and her role of producer in the sector, below are a couple of bullet points about her presentation:
In the work of Crying Out Loud she is trying to re-invent how to work with artists and venue partners
There is only one Circus critic and this is Liz Arratoon from The Stage , the lack of informed critical opinion is a problem for the sector, which Circostrada are looking to find a solution by providing training to Theatre critics (Lyn Gardner has been invited to the Circostrada meeting as a result of the London event)
There should be a focus on collaboration and partnership in the sector, and development centres for work and emerging companies
Were you at the London event? Have you seen the work of Crying Out Loud or attended City Circ?
Please use this posts or any related posts to make comments generally or about the event, speakers and themes that emerged…make it a place for discussion!
Alison trained at Mountview Theatre School in Stage Management and Technical Theatre Design and started working as a freelance stage manager in 1992. Alison became a Director of Turtle Key Arts in 1998 where she has been a production manager and producer for a number of national and international tours with both dance and theatre companies to small, mid-scale and large-scale venues. Alison has been producing Ockham’s Razorsince 2006.
Ockham's Razor performing 'Arc'. Photo by Nik Mackey
Turtle Key Arts is a performance arts production company which produces, manages and devises performance arts projects with a particular emphasis on original and groundbreaking work. They combine production and technical skills and training to work with artists, venues, disability arts organisations and the education sector both nationally and internationally.
In the past year Turtle Key Arts have managed national and international tours and acted as producers for Ockham’s Razor, Jonathan Lunn Dance Company, Amici Dance Theatre Company and Angika Dance Company. We have recently started producing RedCape Theatre Co and are hoping to embark on a full scale tour of their work ‘The Idiot Colony’ this Autumn.
In the last couple of years they have also co-run the Turtle Opera for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders at the Royal Opera House and continued to manage the Key Club, a monthly club for young people 16+ with ASD. They have collaborated on a new initiative, Turtle Song, with the English Touring Opera and the Royal College of Music to work with people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia and initiated many other education projects nationwide.
Ali gave her insight into producing a exciting new company who work in Circus and the challenges they face, here are a couple of bullet points from her presentation at the London event:
Programmers in theatre venues often haven’t got a Circus slot so don’t know how to programme as the work does not fit into a box
It is often the case traditional venues cannot provide adequate technical support for Circus work
Circus takes longer to develop, in terms of equipment, rehearsal and space.
Circus and 2012 have an easy marriage
To download the FULL presentation in pdf format please click here.
Were you at the London event? Have you seen Ockham’s Raxor?
Please use this page or any related pages to make comments generally or about the event, speakers and themes that emerged…make it a place for discussion!
Thursday 23rd April saw the London ‘elemental’ event take place as part of Arts Council London Office, Vision session. Vision sessions are internal training events that focus on different themes. They took the opportunity of elemental to look at street and circus arts.
The London office hosted Arts Council staff, some Local Authority staff, along with key companies for the region. Prior to the event we were delighted to announce Lyn Gardner as the Keynote Speaker. She was supported by four artistic companies and producers:
Each speaker provided some inspiring examples of their work and some arresting video and images, giving us a sense of the excitement and skill involved. They gave an overview of past work, present work and plans for the future. They also touched on the challenges in the sector, in terms of development, space, place, support and, of course, funding.
Lyn Gardner followed with an inspirational and informed speech about the sector and the impact it has on audience and society. She provided a real rally cry for the sector, artists and stakeholders alike and gave her view on the cuts announced in Alistair Darlings budget!
Following her inspiring and thought provoking speech the floor opened up for Q&A, this was long awaited if the nods of agreement during her speech were anything to go by.
We will be posting more details of each speaker soon so watch this space.
Were you at the event? What did you enjoy most? What was said that you are still thinking about now? Let us know.
Key Local Authority partners for Street Arts: GLA, 5 Sub-Regional Partnerships (Central, Southern, Western Wedge, 5 Boroughs, Thames Gateway Partnership).
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