Juggle Through
by Cirquenciel Arcenciel (Lebanon), Nablus Circus School (Palestine) and Cirqu’en Choc (Switzerland)
When and where?
All-Around Culture - ثقافة داير ما يدور is co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Culture Resource (Lebanon), L'Art Rue (Tunisia), MitOste.V. (Germany) and MMAG Foundation (Jordan).
Thoulathy is jointly implemented by L'Art Rue and MitOst.
The partner organisations joined together in this partnership with their need to reflect on and to develop the actual structures of their organisation in order to create sustainable organisational structures and processes.
By joining our expertise through the Thoulathy³ programme, we aim to broaden cultural awareness about each organisation. Through this cooperation we will increase the connections between our three circus schools and foster a reciprocity in knowledge, experience and best practices. As a result, we will achieve autonomy enabling us to be active in local economic and social development bringing to life the famous saying of “Thinking global and acting local”.
Our specificity as youth and social circuses raises similar questions and challenges, regarding topics such as coordination between manager and circus trainers, sustainability, income generating activities and awareness on psycho-social impacts of circus work. We believe that each organisation has developed strong tools to engage with these themes based on each context of work and explore how they can resonate in other contexts. This cooperation will not only provide us the space to acknowledge the solutions and good practices that each of us have developed, but most importantly we will be able to share, discuss and reflect on them.
Youth and social circus represents an innovative field at the crossroad between youth and artistic work. The positive impact of social circus on participants’ development and well-being, as well as for community empowerment and social transformation has been widely demonstrated. However, as youth and social circus organisations we remain marginalised within our national contexts, that is why the international cooperation project is essential because it allows us to be part of a community of practice, improve the quality of our work and learn new pathways of organisation and thinking forward.
> About the organizations of Juggle Through
Cirquenciel is part of the arcenciel organization and is a contemporary social circus aiming to spread peace through circus arts. It was founded in 2001 with the help of Cirque du Monde on the belief that every human being has the right to grow and develop in a safe and friendly environment. Working on three different programs, Criquenciel runs a circus school, a professional troupe, and a psychosocial support team formed by educators from different backgrounds.
Cirqu'en Choc is a company that promotes contemporary circus arts in Switzerland and internationally.
Born in 2009 from a collaboration between two circus artists from the Valais: Tania Simili and Estelle Borel, it is now a circus company in full expansion. Mixing circus, dance, theatre and music, the company's creations are multidisciplinary. The humour, the beauty of the gesture and the social issues tackled make it a committed company, just like its artistic director, Estelle Borel. The DNA of the company is anchored in the need to bring to the stage burning social issues or those that are intimate, through movement, acrobatic gesture and poetry.
Nablus Circus School (Palestine)
Assirk Assaghir is made up of a team of motivated trainers and enthusiastic students from the Nablus area, including surrounding villages and refugee camps. Many of the trainers have been with the circus since its establishment in 2004 and have worked tirelessly as volunteers to keep their dream alive. The students, likewise, have a very high level of commitment to the circus project and participate in classes more than four days per week.