Happy to announce that thanks to the Creative Europe our Foundation participated in an interesting international project.
The activities connected two European Capitals of Culture: Veszprém in Hungary and Elefsina in Greece. These historical cities offered unique squares, castle walls, mythical spots that created perfect backdrops for circus acrobats working in the air and ground, connecting height and depth, history and present, young and old, amateurs and professionals. The strong rig that hold the weight of the acrobats is symbolic of the strong links needed among fellow humans to be able to resist the challenges of everyday life as well the major global challenges like the pandemic, climate change and war.
4 circus artistic oriented organizations from Hungary, Ukraine, Greece and France gathered in this artistic cooperation to collaborate for 14 months. The aims of the collaboration are:
- 8 days of interactive performances open to the public on the streets of Veszrpém and Elefsina
- Collaboration of 50 artists amateurs and professionals
- Artistic workshops offered to audiences in public spaces
- Mass action involving hundreds of audience creating a living picture
- Multi Level learning opportunities for the project partners, the peer artists, and public audience
- Offer to the participating artists valuable experiences of “in situ” experimentation of their artistic work that will happen under the guidance of Artistic Director Albin Warrete.
MULTIPLE LEVEL OF DIALOGUE
- dialogue among citizens
- dialogue between international participants
- dialogue between amateurs and professional artists
- dialogue between the space and their habitats of the two cities
Partners:
The Hungarian Juggling Association
Inspirál Circus Center in Budapest is a space for enthusiasts of the circus and moving arts. It is offering a wide range of activities for art education like workshops, training courses, occasional classes, fulfilling the needs of both amateures, child groups and professional members. It provides a place for local, independent circus artists and companies, making it possible to create freely, to develop ideas, to rehearse shows and to train on a daily basis.
Besides practising circus as an art form, they use it as an innovative tool for social work and special education, and as an effective instrument in the hands of informal pedagogy and recreational sport activities.
Inspirál Circus Center is ran by the Hungarian Juggling Association, the platform in Hungary of independent circus artists and circus pedagogues. The Association gives an official background to all initiatives about circus art, tool of social intervention, sport or hobby/ free time activity.
The Hungarian Juggling Association evolves its activity at international level too, being the coordinator and partner in several European collaboration and network. It is a successfull applicant for Erasmus+ educational projekts and Creative Europe artistic actions.
MONOKYKLO
Monokyklo is a nonprofit organization based in Thessaloniki, Greece, established in 2017 whose main aim is to transmit the performative arts of Circus, Dance and Theater, as means of artistic expression, and as valuable pedagogical tools for mental and physical development. The scope of work includes teaching and performing Circus disciplines, with additional emphasis on Human Rights Education, Contemporary Dance and physical Theater techniques.
The group consists of artists, pedagogues, youth workers, psychologists, circus trainers and animators with relevant studies and many years of field experience in different contexts, all sharing great passion and respect for their work. Board members of the organization hold years of experience coordinating local and European funded projects centered around long-life learning programs, youth exchanges, artistic residencies etc.
Monokyklo is organizing and implementing various projects with social and artistic scope. In the social field Monokyklo is cooperating with local and international NGOs and associations implementing projects of artistic interventions in socially sensitive groups, aiming at their personal and social empowerment. The main tool of work has been social circus and since 2010 team members have been giving social circus workshops at psychiatric hospitals, local prison institutions, Roma communities, institutions for people with disabilities, shelters for refugees and unaccompanied minors and more.
Monokyklo’s circus space is located in a small district of Thessaloniki, and offers regular classes in Circus skills, dance, theater, and yoga occur throughout the year for students of all ages, backgrounds and cultures. Artistically the team creates and participates in various performances and plays, throughout Greece and abroad, in both theaters and outdoors.
Monokyklo firmly believes performing arts should be open and accessible for everyone. Having strong experience with international partnerships, Monokyklo is operating as a link forother local grass root level circus organizations all over Greece, connecting the circus community that is now starting to flourish in the country.
Culture in Movements
This organization is an artistic collective from Toulouse which has been creating spectacle
and vivant shows since 2007 and which develops its activities in several artistic fields: street
and indoor performances, writing on demand, installations, scenography, artistic interventions.
It brings together a team of multidisciplinary artists aroundprojects united by their desire to
make culture accessible to all. Culture in Movements offers rich and unexpected forms,
adapted to the subject as much as to the public.
KYIV MUNICIPAL ACADEMY OF PERFORMING AND CIRCUS ARTS
It was founded in 1961. It is a unique higher education institution offering bachelor and
masters degrees. The Academy prepares specialists of international level in different areas –
vocal, dancing, acting, producing and of course – circus arts (juggling, clown, gymnastic,
acrobatic, equilibristic, pantomime, illusion and manipulation). For the past 60 years,
graduates of the Academy have become leaders in the global circus community, working in
top of circuses, theaters, international pop shows.
NATIONAL FUND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIRCUS ART OF VOLODYMIR SHEVCHENKO
This organization was founded in 2019 by Ludmila Shevchenko – People’s artist of Ukraine. During her career she and her husband Volodymyr Shevchenko performed all over the world, with shows even featuring tigers, lions, horses. Their work has been extremely influential and Several circus books have been published about their work. Volodymyr was a very talented artist and became the director of the National circus in Kyiv in 2007 until his death in -2012. His wife Ludmila has taken over and in 2019 she established the foundation to support talented circus artists and to develop the circus arts in general.
