Laying the Foundations for a Circus Sector Support Network
Image shows a team of women building a human pyramid inside a warehouse space that has a grey ceiling. There are four women with their backs towards us, two of them are wearing very bright red, they are supporting other women with their hands. The women they are supporting are on their hands and feet creating triangle shapes and are balanced on top of one another. There is a woman at the side who is smiling and is holding the end of a safety line which is attached to the acrobat at the top of the pyramid.
Acrolab - Mimbre photograph by Emily Nicholl
Hello, my name is Kate Webb and I have been facilitating the next steps for Circus Change Up.
At the end of 2021 Circus Change Up was successful in applying for funding from the Arts Council to work out a structure and a way of providing long term sustainability, this is a great time-based opportunity to work out the next steps to support circus development in the UK. This blog is about the process so far and invites you to share any thoughts, comments or ideas.
I was aware that a lot of consultation had already been done and I wanted to return to the sector with something tangible. So the process began with looking at ways forward whilst also looking back at all the consultation that had already occurred, the work of the working groups and how that could inform the next stage. Consequently the first couple of months of this year have been filled with meeting with conveners, conversations with National Portfolio Organisations, head scratching, flip-chart paper, making sense of Arts Council funding and staring in to space.
Some things were clear:
That there is undoubtedly a need for a sector support organisation for contemporary circus
That a Resource/Knowledge Centre is key for freelancers and organisations to share knowledge, resources and best practice
That strong potential strands of other work have emerged from the Working Groups that need action
That freelancers want to have more of a voice in driving the sector and the working groups model facilitated this.
That anyone who is passionate about circus, its development and the role of freelancers within it need to be included
What is Circus Change Up?
For me what was still unclear was What is Circus Change Up? What does it and could it do?
When considering this question it was useful to look at what it has already done.
Covid Recovery and Response Report
Well-being Survey
Contributed to advocacy report to DCMS
Development of a project to help expand the circus touring venue network in the UK, with mentoring of both venues and artists.
Collecting resources to inform a Resource centre
A facebook page which linked up freelancers and organisations
What was increasingly apparent from the consultations was that this should be an organisation where freelancers are helping to drive sector change either as individuals or representing small companies. Alongside them are those organisations passionate about the development of circus, and for whom freelancers matter therefore the structure and model needs to reflect this.
“Circus Change Up is a sector support network for Contemporary Circus. It is driven by and is responsive to freelancers and those organisations to whom freelancers matter.”
Outputs
As a sector support organisation some of the regular outputs could be:
Regular meetings with working/consultation groups around themes such as Touring, Well Being, Representation, Advocacy and (freelancers would be paid to attend these meetings)
A knowledge centre – sharing resources, mentoring, coaching, opportunities – housed on a website.
A directory
An Open office session similar to OAUK
An annual conference
Other outputs would be in response to ideas generated by working groups such as the developing the touring network.
“So many ideas came out of the CCU working groups and there was clearly such a thirst from many corners of the sector for some more structure around circus; it's brilliant that we've got this chance to move things along a step further.”
Lissy Lovett, Executive Director Mimbre
LongTerm Sustainability and Fundraising
The period of managed funds coincided with the new National Portfolio round (those organisations regularly funded by the Arts Council). This presented itself as a potential opportunity to either become an NPO or partner with an existing NPO as part of their bid. It soon became apparent that this would not be possible for two reasons: for an NPO applying for an uplift in a very competitive round was too great a risk and secondly, the new guidelines mean if an organisation is applying to be an National Portfolio Organisation it can not also apply to be a Sector Support Organisation.
All was not lost, in researching other opportunities for funding we discovered the National Significance Project Fund which includes Sector Support Work, but in order to apply we need a board and be a constituted company.
At the same time we were approached by Handstand Arts, the producers of Circus City Festival who had been working with a consultant on their organisational development. Handstand Arts are keen to develop their sector support work and feel that it complements the festival in terms of being of service to the sector; to the freelancers, companies and producers within it. Handstand Arts also has a board and is a constituted company so the prospect of applying for funding for Handstand Arts to take on Circus Change UP seemed like a good fit. We have also approached Outdoor Arts UK to provide mentoring to Circus Change Up.
If successful the funding would provide sustainability for a pilot project over a 3 year period after which Change UP could stand on its own two feet as an Investment Principle Support Organisation (IPSO) for the next round of funding in 2026.
Timeline for the next few months ….
March
Mail Out to contacts, with an open office and email address for conversations.
Targeted conversations to get support from NPOs and other organisations or individuals.
April
Sector Wide Meeting April 5th – 11am -1pm on zoom tickets available with at eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/x/circus-change-up-next-steps-tickets-293739551907
The main objectives for this meeting is to
Inform the sector where we have got to and for freelancers and organisations to feed in to the next stage of the process
To understand what is relevant for freelancers now
To re-ignite or re-assign working groups
To gauge feedback and interest
All being well, Kate Hartoch (Handstand Arts) and I will work on an Expression of Interest for the National Significance Project bid during April.
May-June
Freelancers are paid to attend two meetings with working groups to flesh out projects that could go in to the activity plan in the National Significance Bid.
Decision from ACE if we can make a full application. We then have to turn around the application in four weeks.
July
Conveners meet for a paid away day to inform the bid.
Bid is written and submitted.
September/October
Decision from ACE
If successful – start the work.
If unsuccessful – rethink how to use this valuable work.
October
Report on managed funds to ACE
The Structure
Central to how an organisation can hold/ support and facilitate as open a process as possible is the structure of that process and the transparency of it.
Taking thinking from Self Organising Systems modeling and with advice from Lynn Carroll, the draft and proposed model for how Change Up would sit within Handstand Arts is attached. It's just a start and it throws up some questions but part of the evolution of Change Up will be trialling and testing whatever structure it uses.
Image shows diagram of structure of Handstand incorporating Circus City Festival and Circus Change UP. At the bottom is the Handstand Arts board who will line manage the CEO of Handstand, this is represented by two circles with a blue arrow from Handstand Board to the CEO. The CEO is then responsible for the Change Up Facilitator, the Director of Circus City and the Marketing and Finance freelancers. The Circus City Director is responsible for the Circus City Festival team and producer. Line management is represented by blue arrows. The Change UP facilitator and the CEO are also part of the General Circle along with the freelance coordinators of the working groups and the Associate Organisations. The working groups are where ideas and initiatives are generated which are then fed in to the General Circle to action. Lines of communication are represented by orange lines.
Get Involved...
It is important to state that this is a work in progress, this is as far as we have got. We would love to hear your thoughts on what we propose so far, if you have any questions, comments or if you want to get involved. Please contact Kate at info@circuschangeup.co.uk
Kate Webb 7/3/22