06/05/2024
It is with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to our beloved Australian Circus Festival, with the 5th edition being our last. When I first conceived this idea in 2013, it was after spending many years at international festivals, feeling saddened that Australia didn’t have one to call its own.
A brief history of circus festivals and how they began… 🇲🇨 In 1974, Prince Rainier III chose to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his reign by establishing a festival to support and recognize circus performers. The first International Circus Festival was held under a big top at the base of the Prince's palace in Monaco.
For years after, countries around the world created their own national festivals, yet Australia had its first official one registered in 2013, with the inaugural performance in 2014.
We started small, in our black box theatre in Penrith. Stardust Circus then generously opened their beautiful big top to host us for several editions. Finally, we held our largest edition yet with four incredible big tops in partnership with Hudson’s Circus and Circus Shuvano. In the grand scheme of things, we are still small compared to many international festivals, but what we lacked in funding and grandeur, we made up for with heart and passion for the circus.
When I started this festival, I wanted us to have our own unique identity. My goals were:
❤️🇦🇺 Unite the Australian circus sector by bringing together Contemporary, Classical, Social, and Street Circus in one place, allowing them to share ideas, take workshops together, and perform. Thanks to the collaboration of so many artists and circus schools, we saw many schools begin to collaborate for events and exchange programs after our festival. I believe that through their participation, a deep appreciation and understanding of each other’s work developed.
❤️🇦🇺 Celebrate current and retired industry professionals by creating the Australian Circus Industry Awards, which we presented at every edition of our festival to industry leaders.
❤️🇦🇺 Embrace diversity. We were the first international festival to feature artists from 3 to 80 years old, of all body types, abilities, ethnicities, and cultures. We were also the first circus festival in the world to create a gender-balanced jury.
❤️🇦🇺 Expose Australian artists to high-calibre artistic works from around the world, opening our minds to what is possible and what is happening outside our island. Over the years, we hosted artists from China, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, USA, Canada, Mongolia, New Zealand, and many more on our stage.
❤️🇦🇺 Encourage Australian circus schools to create more ground-based acts. We informed schools that they would have a better chance of being included in the show if they developed more ground acts, which allowed us to have a show with better variety. Over our last few editions, we noticed many schools that were originally predominantly aerial-focused began creating impressive ground-based acrobatic and manipulation acts.
❤️🇦🇺 Provide Australian circus students with the experience of performing on stage and learning how to adapt their acts from the studio to a live performance environment. Watching aerialists overcome the challenges of transitioning their acts from a low roof to a motorized cable, managing the bounce, the little kicks on a 12-meter cable, or handling the intense stage lights while juggling, tumbling, or balancing, and how they adjusted during tech rehearsals was incredibly rewarding.
❤️🇦🇺 Help talented Australian artists obtain high-quality video footage and photos to market their acts overseas and raise the profile of Australian circus globally. Many artists were hired for international shows and festivals due to their participation in our festival. This makes me so, so happy!
❤️🇦🇺 Raise global awareness for Australian circus. Through the festival, inviting foreign juries, casting agents, and guests, distributing our show programs overseas, and participating in international circus expos, we certainly achieved this.
I am so proud of what we created; we achieved every goal we set and left a positive impact on the Australian Circus Industry as a whole.
I am incredibly grateful to the amazing people and companies that helped us reach where we are today.
A huge thank you to my partner and sidekicks: Claire Reincastle (you were my rock), John LeMare, Eloise O’Toole, Pixi Robertson, and all the folks from Stardust, Circus Avalon, Paws, Hudson’s, and Shuvano for providing us with your wonderful spaces to make this event possible over the years. I truly want to thank all of our sponsors over the years; without you, this could have never happened. The classical circuses deserve a huge dedication, as all of you really pulled through every time we needed something. I love you all so much and cannot thank you enough for your kindness, support, and belief in our project.
Thank you to the photographers and videographers who captured so many amazing moments—Wildest Dreams, Mark Turner, Hannah McLaren, Scott Belzner, John Humphries, Lutfi Hady, and so many others who helped us remember the festival for all time.
Thank you to our Ringmasters and Ringmistresses over the years: Carrie Harvey, Jane de Goldi, Carla Ogle, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Daniel Gorski, the amazing Warney, and Kristian Leadbeater. A massive thanks to our stagehands, riggers, and the lights and sound teams each year who helped create a magical and safe environment.
Patrick Rosseel, I am forever grateful for your work as creative director/stage manager in our 5th edition.
A big thanks to Fred Serex, who helped us pull off our 5th edition during the pandemic with Spectacular.tv.
A huge thank you to our volunteers and employees; you were incredible every time. There are so many amazing people to thank, but I’d be here for years if I mentioned them all.
I will be adding some of my all-time favorite ACF memories into an album for past performers and workers to enjoy.
Much love, and long live the circus!
Jasmine
