Hello!
If you’re here it’s because you’ve either had a chat with me or been in a workshop with me, and you’re interested in pursuing a career in circus.
I am not the holder of all the information about how to have a successful career in circus, but I do have one that’s now lasted almost 20 years.
The most important two things I want aspiring circus artists (or teachers, or directors, or technicians, or producers…) to know are;
This job is very hard. If you love it, and it fills your soul, then it is well worth it and you will find good people and good places to support you. If you don’t love it, honestly? It isn’t worth it. For some people, a job that pays the bills and allows you time and space to live a happy life outside of work is the right choice. Only you can make that choice.
If you have decided that this is the job/world for you, BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY. Be around people you admire, ask questions, send an email to that artist/director/person you admire and ask them for advice. Buy someone a coffee in exchange for spending an hour with them and ask them how they did it. Most people who are still in this industry are there because they had support, they know that, and they want to support the next generation too.
Here are some answers to question that have come up in workshops:
1) What should I do after graduating, to ‘pass the time’ until I’m old enough to be considered by companies? (asked by a yr 12 Fruit Fly)
This is a really good question, and it’s very astute to know that there are a lot of companies/hirers out there who won’t hire an 18 year old. So, some things you can do;
Try things out to see if you like them. See this table to help you figure out how to decide what opportunities are worthwhile.
Go to Uni… see below for a list of higher education places you can go to keep training in a structured way. You don’t need a degree to be a circus artist but spending another three years with access to a circus facility, other trained bodies and minds, specialist coaches and a structured routine can be perfect for some. You also absolutely don’t have to finish a degree you start. A note on degrees, at 33 I went to do a Masters, having never done a Bachelor’s degree. This was possible for me because I was applying to a performing arts school (NIDA) with over a decade of high-calibre professional experience. You probably don’t know what you’ll want by the time you’re 33, but there have been moments through my life where I have *wished* I’d done a Bachelor’s degree in order to open the door to further study.
See lots of shows! Go to festivals, conventions, training camps, whatever else is going on that seems interesting to you. Feed you inner artist and get a sense of who and what is out there.
Travel. You are young, visas are easier when you’re young and Australian passports can get you lots of places without a visa. Work in bars, coffee shops, take casual work on festivals, or work as an au pair… whatever you gotta do to see the world.
Find out where the circus communities are that have training space (not Albury, you’ve already done that one - or insert wherever it is you’ve grown up). Melbourne, Montreal, Toulouse, Stockholm… go be around other circus people and train.
Find someone you admire and ask if they will mentor you. Start by just buying them a coffee and asking them about their life, maybe you choose a bunch of people to do this with.
Below is a collection of resources I find helpful, which I will keep adding to. I’m not going to explain each in detail. Click the link, explore for yourself.
Remember, if you need something, or need to know something, or need to know what you don’t now… ask someone.
Theatre Network Australia (worth the very low membership fee, these folks do a lot of advocacy for circus)
Arts Wellbeing Collective (out of date, but still useful)
Live Performance Award (this is how to calculate what you should be paid as a performer, OR what you should pay others if you run your own thing. NEVER download the PDF, use this live link as it is updated regularly.)
Chris Cheers Psychology (great psych specialising in the arts. Can recommend his book ‘The New Rulebook’ as well as scrolling his instagram feed)
Emerging Artists Grants (Ian Potter) (there are SO MANY grants and opportunities for emerging artists out there. Find a grant-writing workshop, write a lot of grants, fail, fail again, learn from it. Go down the rabbit holes of possible grant opportunities to help you train, make work, learn new things. Now - while you’re young - is the best time for these opportunities.)
Emerging and experimental arts (make sure to check your own state-based funding bodies too)