NATIONAL PARTNERS
ITALY | BRESCIA | TENDENZA CLOWN FESTIVAL (MILAN) - LA STRADA FESTIVAL (BRESCIA)
In 2015 Circuito CLAPS was recognised by the Italian Ministry of Culture as the Regional Multidisciplinary Circuit, to programme prose, dance, contemporary circus and music performances. It organises around 600 performances every year throughout Lombardy, is among the Subjects of Cultural Relevance recognised by the Region and, since 2018, is the Lombardy Artistic Residency Centre with the IntercettAzioni project in collaboration with Industria Scenica, Laagam, Teatro delle Moire, Zona K. It is associated with Agis/Federvivo and is a partner in numerous Italian and European networks. It is one of the founders of A.C.C.I. (Associazione Circo Contemporaneo Italia). It is a member of Circostrada and IETM; it won for 4 editions the ministerial call Boarding Pass Plus with the project CirkAround.
ITALY – SAN QUIRINO (PN) | RICÒ FESTIVAL
Madame Rebiné is a contemporary circus company founded in 2011 in Toulouse (France) maturing a project started in Turin by Andrea Brunetto, Massimo Pederzoli and Alessio Pollutri at the Flic circus school. It is the result of its years of study at renowned European schools (Esacto'Lido in Toulouse, Balthazar in Montpellier, Katakomben in Berlin, Escola Luthier in Barcelona) and over ten years of production. Since 2021 it has been based in Italy, in San Quirino (PN), and since 2022 it has been supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture as a contemporary circus production company. Over the years, it has developed its own declination of contemporary languages balanced between innovation and tradition, poetry and comedy, virtuosity and simplicity. Its shows are suitable for a transversal audience.
ITALY | TURIN | SALTINPIAZZA FESTIVAL - VIARIGI
ArteMakìa is the company created and directed by artist, author and director Milo Scotton. 25 years of experience in live performance and entertainment (‘Cirque du Soleil’, duo ‘Milo&Olivia’, ‘Italia's Got Talent’, ‘Lo show dei record/Guinness World Records’, among others) have enabled the realisation of a wide-ranging project that aims to enhance contemporary arts. The company is supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture as a contemporary circus company and always seeks a balance between elegant poetics and innovative technical research.
The productions are the result of collaborations that are renewed from time to time, always bringing new themes to the stage with a cast of young artists drawn from the the most important companies or schools on the national and international scene.
ITALY | VIMODRONE (MI) | INNESCHI FESTIVAL
Industria Scenica is a company founded in 2012 in Milan and deals with theatre production, cultural welfare and community dramaturgy, with a strong involvement of citizens. It creates theatre performances for children and youth and research theatre, proposes a quality cultural offer, develops tools to facilitate access to culture, trains citizens with diversified performance paths, revitalises disused spaces, offers study and research opportunities to young artists, and promotes collaborative networks. It is based at the Everest - Spazio alla Cultura in Vimodrone (MI), a dance hall regenerated as a cultural centre that hosts a Theatre Season and a School Theatre Season, and is one of the venues of IntercettAzioni Residency Centre of the Lombardy Region. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture and its projects are supported by various public and private organisations.
ITALY | VICENZA | STAGIONE TEATRO COMUNALE DI VICENZA
The Fondazione Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza was established in 2007 to manage the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza, the ‘new’ theatre that has been awaited by the City of Vicenza for over 60 years. It is a private-law body that performs a public cultural service; it deals with institutional, public and private interlocutors in the territory and at national level, in order to realise an interdisciplinary live performance artistic programme and valuable cultural in-depth analysis, to meet the needs of different audiences. The founding members are the Municipality of Vicenza and the Veneto Region, the supporting members are Fondazione Cariverona and Intesa Sanpaolo; alongside them a partnership with local institutions and enterprises has been consolidated, sharing the mission of making a Theatre for All.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
CATALOGNA/SPAIN | BARCELONA | GUIDED TOUR OF CATALAN CULTURAL AND CIRCUS CENTRES
The Institut Ramon Llull is the public institution for promoting Catalan language and culture internationally. It represents a cultural and linguistic community of more than 10 million people who participate in global events and conversations through performing arts, literature and knowledge exchange. It carries out its programming in different areas: Language and University, Literature, Visual and Performing Arts and Innovation, Knowledge and Residencies Programme.
It supports artists, organisations, institutions and festivals, promoting exchange in the fields of Catalan studies, literature and translation, performing and visual arts, film, music, design and architecture. The Institut is a consortium formed by the Government of Catalonia, the Government of the Balearic Islands, Barcelona City Council and Palma City Council.
CATALOGNA/SPAIN | CORNELLÁ DE LLOBREGAT | FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE PALLASSOS DI CORNELLÀ DE LLOBREGAT
AlaPista! created and directed by Jordi Juanet ‘Boni’ and Silvia Compte Bustos, stems from the desire to support the creation of cultural projects related to the circus world. It accompanies companies in the process of creation, production and distribution of their shows. It organises Circus festivals, taking care of their design and programming, always in close collaboration with municipalities and their management teams.
Jordi, an artist, musician and artistic director, has participated in several Clowns without Borders trips during his career and has worked in contemporary circus since 1982. He creates choral and solo shows and is president of the Association of Circus Professionals of Catalonia from 2006 to 2010. He is the creator, together with Silvia, of the Festival Internacional de Pallassos in Cornellà de Llobregat.
CATALOGNA/SPAIN | LLEIDA | FESTIVAL ESBAIOLA’T – ESTERRI D’ANEU
It was founded in Lleida in 1996 to create quality and innovative shows, aimed at all types of audiences, especially families. All of the company creations and actions show a deep commitment to social issues and seek to become integrated with the territory of reference. In La Baldufa's shows, clown and gestural theatre is mixed with different disciplines. In 2020, the company received the National Award of Performing Arts for Children and Youth 2020, granted by the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Spanish Government. It performs on many national and international stages and festivals. It carries out social and cultural actions in the neighbourhood of its headquarters in Lleida, an area characterised by various social difficulties (Enre9 Live Arts Festival). From 2008 to 2023, it organised the Esbaiola't Festival in Esterri d'Àneu, to offer quality culture to families in Valls d'Àneu, in the Catalan Pyrenees.
FRANCE | PARIS | ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SPLIT, 2023 - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING KARLSRUHE E RASTATT, 2024
Circostrada is the European network for circus and street arts. Created in 2003 with the main mission to promote the development, empowerment and recognition of these fields at European and international level, over the years the network has become an important reference for its members and a key interlocutor in the dialogue with cultural policy makers in Europe.
Supported by Creative Europe, it is dedicated to professional, information and project exchanges between its 130 members from 35 countries dealing with documentation, training, research and publications. It organises various events and meetings between professionals in the performing arts market, offering networking opportunities; it runs a digital platform providing industry publications in French and English.
FRANCE | ALÈS | CRATERE SURFACES FESTIVAL
Since 1999, in summer, the centre of Alès has been invaded by companies that transform it into a public theatre for 20,000 spectators. Impertinent and audacious, this street arts festival is one of the few created by a Scène Nationale. The access to culture that the Scène Nationale guarantees takes the form of decentralised actions in the territories, adapted tariff policies, and a participative approach to projects involving the inhabitants. The Scènes nationales offer the public multidisciplinary programming, reflecting the main trends in contemporary live artistic production. They provide artists with the means to pursue their creative research and offer the population an ambitious and diversified cultural action. They also provide artists with advice and training.
FRANCE | MARSEILLE | TENDANCE CLOWN FESTIVAL
Daki Ling - The Garden of the Muses was born in Marseille in 2001 to open a cultural space in a working-class neighbourhood in the city centre, dedicated to all artistic disciplines: music, live performance, plastic arts, audiovisual. Over time, Daki Ling's artistic project has refocused around the world of clowning and burlesque. The theatre supports artistic creation by offering residencies to different companies working on various registers around the universe of the clown. Courses for professionals and workshops are also organised throughout the year, as well as workshops open to citizens and social inclusion actions. Since 2005, Daki Ling has organised Tendance Clown festival, which explores the different facets of what the clown is today.
FRANCE | TOULOUSE | WORKSHOP
ESACTO Le Lido, the Toulouse-Occitanie Higher School of Circus Arts, is one of three schools in France authorised to award the DNSP-AC diploma to circus artists. Since its foundation in 1994, the school's professional training has become a national and international reference in this field. Many emblematic companies of contemporary circus have trained under the Lido's big top. The creation of Ésacto'Lido has enabled the continuity of professional training that begins at the Lido. It also provides a continuing education centre to support artists after school, launch them into a professional career and enable them to develop new skills. It has developed a network of regional, national and international partners for circus arts training.
BELGIUM | BRUXELLES | WORKSHOP AND MEETINGS
UP - Circus & Performing Arts is the new name of Espace Catastrophe, the International Centre for the Creation of Circus Arts in Brussels. With its 6,000 m² of usable space, the new venue allows the team to reorganise an even more ambitious project and to ensure its integration into the neighbourhood, with openings for all audiences. Through mainly artistic and scenic actions, linked to the creation, production and distribution of shows, UP - Circus & Performing Arts enables the development of related actions, linked to training, transmission and social cohesion. Building on its long experience in the sector, at the heart of Belgian and international circus creation, UP offers progressive programmes adapted to the different stages of creation, up to lifelong learning.
GREECE | ATHENS | WORKSHOP AND MEETINGS
Restart Theater Athens was born in 2023 in Athens, Greece, from the collaboration between director Angeliki Kasola and actress Irini Mela. United by a passion for the transformative power of theatre in society, the two artists share over a decade of common history marked by projects, creations and ideas of the Omada Piragma company. Under the artistic direction of Angeliki Kasola (2010-2022) and the ‘Theatre and Society’ programme she created, Omada Piragma has produced 11 wide-ranging community theatre creations alongside 8 professional productions. The plays have toured throughout Greece, reaching audiences with limited access to the theatre. Company members have been trained in applied theatre practices, running annual workshops for non-actors and implementing Kasola's co-creation methodology in the production of the plays.
POLAND | GOLENIOW | BRAMAT FESTIVAL
Teatr Brama was founded in Goleniów, Poland, in 1996 by Daniel Jacewicz and was named after its first location: Brama Wolinska (the old city gate). There the theatre first opened as an informal club and shortly afterwards became the House of Culture of Goleniów. Today Teatr Brama is well known in Poland and in the world of independent theatre. It creates a living cultural environment, which can be experienced during the annual festivals - BRAMAT and LAKNIENIA. Teatr Brama's cultural action revolutionises the relationship between artist and spectator: the performance is an opportunity for encounter and creates space for dialogue with a diverse audience. Teatr Brama's commitment to the relationship with the local community is evidenced by workshops and targeted audience involvement actions with different targets: the elderly, children, adolescents, the disabled, people with addictions.
ISRAEL | TEL AVIV | WORKSHOP AND MEETINGS
Move to Circus Academy was born in 2008 from the ‘Stefanie's not Here Project’, created by Ines Lorca and Shahar Kamay in Israel. The project was set up to accompany young people and adults who have gone through painful periods in their lives (loss of a parent, divorce, separation, hyperactivity, dyslexia, substance abuse, communication difficulties) through circus arts, dance, music and theatre. The doors of Move to Circus Academy are open to young people and people who need circus and movement in their lives believing that circus arts can help, facilitate and develop communication, concentration at school, at work and in life.
BRASIL AND ITALY | WORKSHOP AND MEETINGS
Brazilian artist, he began his research on physical theatre and clowning in 1991. He trained at Yves Lebreton's International Centre for Training, Research and Theatre Creation L'ALBERO and with Pierre Byland in Switzerland. In 2002 he founded the company Teatro C'art, and since 2007 he has been artistic director of Teatro C'Art Comic Education. He is in charge of international cooperation projects in Brazil, as well as in other countries such as Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Israel, and Palestine, where he tours bringing shows as actor and director. In Brazil, from 2001 to 2011, I directed the ‘Arte do Encontro’ Project, an Italo-Brazilian clown training project for adolescents in the suburbs of Salvador - Bahia through the NGO Cria - Centro di Riferimento Integral degli Adolescenti. In 2018, a long-lasting collaboration was born with Teatro Do Sopra in Rio de Janeiro and with the Brazilian founder and clown Flavia Marco.