Circus City

11/07/2023

We are growing our small but mighty team! We are looking for an Emerging Producer to work with us on Circus City 2023. This year is an exciting time to join Handstand Arts as we up our ambition and increase our commissioning, artist support and live work year-round to reach larger, more diverse audiences than ever before. Part-time, freelance. Deadline 27 July.

Image description: a woman stands in a picture frame as snow falls on her head. She looks up and smiles.

Image from À Nos Fantômes (To Our Ghosts) by Company Menteuses. Part of Circus City 2019.

Link in bio, or on our website.

29/06/2023

News! Circus City – the UK’s biggest festival of contemporary circus – will return to Bristol from 1 – 22 October 2023 with a city-wide programme of performance blending circus with music, film, theatre, dance and more.

The full line-up for the festival’s 5th biennial showcase of work by local, national and international artists is due to be revealed online via www.bristolcircuscity.com on Saturday 29 July 2023.

To celebrate the launch of the programme, acclaimed Bristol-founded company will be performing their new free outdoor show PUBLIC in and around The Podium crossroads at the centre of the Broadmead shopping area on Saturday 29 July 2023 at 12 midday and 2pm.

PUBLIC will feature a graduate company of young acrobats, dancers, climbers and parkour artists, defying the marginalised position of young people in our public spaces and bringing the spirit of Bristol as a city of circus to the surface – as they make the city’s architecture their playground.

At the end of PUBLIC, young people and audience members are encouraged to join in with the show. The simple choreography will be shared over TikTok and Instagram in advance.
So, get this in your diaries! Link in bio. Image by

19/04/2023

18/04/2023

We would love to sit and talk Circus with you. If you are local to Bristol and have thoughts, ideas or projects to propose to us or just want to chat or meet our new team, please come drop in to see us at The Canteen next Tuesday 25th April between 12 and 3pm. If you can’t make it in person our emails are Nicole@ and Rhiannon@ bristolcircuscity.com

📸Lovely photo by Miriam Strong of ‘If I Can’t See You’ which is a 2021 Handstand Arts commission, performed by

13/04/2023

🎉 We are happy to announce the appointment of Rhiannon Jones as Executive Director and Nicole A’Court-Stuart as Artistic Director of Handstand Arts. Working alongside them will be our new general manager Thea Woodrow.

This new leadership comes at an exciting time for the organisation as we deliver Circus City festival and grow our work year round, bringing contemporary circus to new audiences and nourishing and showcasing our circus sector with platforms for performance and cross pollination, nationally and internationally.

The team extend their deep gratitude to outgoing co-founder and Director Kate Hartoch who has nurtured the organisation since its inception and fought to prioritise and advance our internationalism, community and local connection through turbulent times. We are delighted that she will be continuing to represent the interests of Handstand Arts and Circus City festival across the sector, as our Associate Director.⚡️

In October this year Circus City Festival will return for its 5th edition, bringing three weeks of local, national and international performances to venues across Bristol.

We are inviting local performers, creatives, producers and venues to join us for a Circus City consultation at the Canteen, Stokes Croft, Bristol on 25th April between 12 and 3pm. If you have an idea you would like to share with us, or thoughts about the festival for this year or in the future, please drop in for a chat with Rhiannon and Nicole.

If you can’t come in person but would like to share your thoughts and projects please email [email protected] or [email protected]

📸Upswing, Seasons 2021 by Simon Abel

05/02/2023

We are hiring! 💫🎪 Are you our new Executive Director or General Manager? Handstand Arts & Circus City are looking for two new team members to join us in delivering our ambitious plans for 2023-24 and shaping our future work. Both roles are freelance, part time and location independent. See link in bio for further info or visit www.bristolcircuscity.com/category/news/

Image: Lee Carter in Ockham’s Razor This Time 📷J.Rowley

05/05/2022

Find out what Incandescence have been experiencing in Palestine. They're planning on building on the positive by bringing Cirque Farah, the show they created with the Palestine Circus School, to the UK

'Coming from Cornwall, this is definitely not a normal reality to find yourself in'

07/04/2022

The Revel Puck Circus opens in Bristol tonight! As well as the main show, the tent will host a late night programme of Bristol based productions so stay late and enjoy some home grown performance -

Bristol Puck Programme We’re so excited to present a line up of Bristol talent. This year we are sharing the stage with a late night programme of Bristol based productions, inviting local dance troupes to flash mob and curtain raise and local community groups to make their stamp on the Revel Puck ...

01/04/2022

A pretty special tent is coming to Bristol with some brilliant shows to be seen, don't miss out.....

21/03/2022

Residency opportunity at Dynamo Circus Space in Odense, Denmark in Autumn - deadline 1st April

11/03/2022

Spring sees us dreaming up ideas for our next festival and working with Circus Change-Up to imagine ways of making the UK circus sector stronger and more vibrant than ever before!

Following on from Circus City 2021, we wanted to share some exceptional films from artists and companies who featured in the festival programme.

Follow the blog post below to check out some exciting projects from Upswing Aerial, Whispering Wood Folk and Olga Kaleta & Holly Black – don’t hang around as some of them are only available for a limited time!

Spring sees us dreaming up ideas for our next festival and working with Circus Change-Up to imagine ways of making the UK circus sector stronger and … Read more Exciting projects from Circus City 2021 festival programme contributors