The circus that runs away to join you...

From August 30th-Sep 4th, 2011, I travelled to Finland as part of the CASCAS tour (Come And See Circus And Street-Arts).

Along with 10 people from 10 countries I was fortunate to be selected to tour the country with the sole purpose of gaining insight into the national Circus Industry. As part of the tour we met artists, producers, circus schools, youth circuses, programmes managers, sector developers, venues, festival organizers and Santa Claus himself. The tour was tight and well managed by the Finnish Circus Information Centre, it would have been hard to pack more into the tour.

The infrastructure here is quite impressive – both the physical facilities and the organization of the sector itself. For a country of five million people, Finland must have one of the highest rates of access to circus anywhere in the world. Bigger towns and cities all have places where circus can be trained, with most cities having dedicated circus facilities. Every town has a youth circus programme, where the standard of circus is quite high. The facilities at Tampere’s Sorin Circus would be comparable to any circus company or venue within the UK and has parallels with the Flying Fruit Flies base in Albury, Australia. The Sorin training centre and base is immense, and is fantastic to see as we continue with our Circus Central Building project in newcastle.

Likewise, the new Cirko Centre in Helsinki is another jewel, currently a centerpiece of the major redevelopment of Suvilahti, the city’s old gas and electricity works site. This cultural centre will have circus at the heart of it, and will soon include a dedicated facility for Circus Helsinki, the largest youth circus in the country, currently with 800 students. Circus is on the agenda in Finland, from the levels of Government down to that of the people. It’ so refreshing to see this support of circus all the way from the top levels of policy making. I covet a day where the same can be said in the UK.

This kind of major infrastructure only comes about through support and investment – clearly Finland has seen a lot of both. Two other interesting elements to the industry here are the speed at which many things have developed, and the national approach that the Finns have taken. The sector is strong across the country, development is not limited to a few major cities and projects seem to be able to move fast.

Amongst the tour members there has been considerable interest in the works and art that is being produced here. I’ve certainly come across some very exciting companies and shows such as Race Horse Company and Play Time. Hopefully there will be some opportunities to invite them to the UK, and the North East in future years.

Every tour or showcase has a darling, a certain company or individual that is endeared by the gathering. To me, the darling of this tour was Joonas Martikainen and his company Agit Circ from Roveniemi on the Arctic Circle. Not just for their home-cooked hospitality and laid back wine-then-sauna approach to our gathering, but for their unique take on producing meaningful works. The company’s annual ‘Silence Festival’ takes place in a small village in Lapland puts circus, poetry, music and art in perhaps one of the most remote locations in Europe. An experimental contrast of celebration and rumination – total festival audience of 300. Likewise Agit Circ’s 2-4 person shows touring the 6 person villages of Lapland in the middle of winter caught everyone’s imagination. Circus outreach at a really different level. As a frequent traveller to Northern Countries, I’ve often been struck by the long nights of winter darkness. Coming from Australia, this relationship is a negative one for me, but here, the connection between long hours of winter darkness and the production of strong, focused, meaningful arts makes sense. Maybe I should be avoiding the winter sun of Australia and heading to Greenland instead.

So what does it mean to me to have been part of the tour?

I came looking for knowledge, project comparisons and future project partners and feel that I’ve walked away with all of these and more. I also feel further motivated to develop more in the way of future European Parnterships, and to spread the knowledge of these. I find the whole concept of funded European ‘Go and See’ missions and networking projects as a remarkable and privileged facet of living in Europe, and one that should be embraced by the Circus and Street Arts sector.

Thanks to Kadja and the ladies at FCIC, CDA, Yohann and everyone else involved in putting this project together. A truly inspirational week in a fantastic country.

Steve Cousins
Finland
September 2011