What is BETA CIRCUS?
BETA CIRCUS aims to address new trends in contemporary circus and to offset the lack of opportunities for artists to get trained at a high professional level. The project also proposes moments for the audience to experience those new languages and concepts with live performances, especially in the partner countries. It is a cooperation project that expects to develop a new European vision dedicated to the capacity building process for emerging contemporary circus artists looking for innovative works, trends and languages in Europe, with special focus on countries with a lack of high level circus education and reduced recognition of the circus domain in the field of contemporary arts.
What are the goals of the project and this open call?
BETA CIRCUS aims to disseminate a European vision and methodology to explore the participatory arts work applied to circus arts. European circus collectives selected by this European open call will join local collectives with experience in participatory arts (selected by national open calls) for a collaborative experience supported by expert mentors in participatory arts. Artistic laboratories, collaborative meetings, artistic research and creative residencies in the selected places with the local community are the key steps of the project. Each artistic experience will be completed with a public performative output. The current open call expects to select 4 international artists or collectives (up to 4 persons per group) to attend the capacity building activities and join the artistic experience.
When and where will the programme take place?
BETA CIRCUS Participatory experience activities are scheduled in between 2023 and 2025, taking place in 4 European countries: Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Serbia. The methodology is divided in 2 main steps: first the participants will join 2 artistic laboratories and after the capacity building actions each artistic collective will join a local artistic organisation to implement an artistic experience in one partner country, with the support of one expert mentor. With the artistic experience the participatory arts methodology should be applied valorizing, always possible, public spaces.
What benefits will participants have?
Each selected participant (single artist or group, up to 4 persons) will attend without costs the capacity building programme of BETA CIRCUS Participatory experience, as well as the mentoring programme with the designated expert mentor. The project will cover:
BETA CIRCUS partners will pay 3.500 EURO to each selected group/artist to contribute to the artistic experience and final performance. No meals will be provided for the artistic experience (residency and performances); per diems are included in the payment. This financial contribution of 3.500 EURO will be paid once per selected artistic proposal (it is a contribution for the project as a whole, not to each individual participant in the proposed team).
In addition, participants will benefit from an international visibility and network provided by the project partners and communication, creating opportunities for their careers.
Who can apply for the open call?
BETA CIRCUS Participatory experience is open to circus artistic collectives with or without experience in participatory circus but interested to join the participatory arts methodology and test it applied to circus arts. No age limit is defined, however the participants should demonstrate a strong motivation to develop something new or innovative in their artistic careers. Applications will be accepted from all the European Union countries, as well as other countries currently eligible for Creative Europe Programme.
Deadline: 24 April 2023
Find more information here.
