Circusful’s team of expert tutors are passionate about bringing circus magic to your community and the young people you work with. 

Our outreach team are skilled at meeting young people where they are. They build trust, create connections and all the time by passing on a dazzling variety of circus skills at all levels.

The Circusful team create a nurturing, creative and artistic atmosphere that helps everyone to thrive. Through a welcoming and non-competitive environment, circus becomes more accessible to young people than many other artforms or sports.

 “Circus helps you to deal with situations you wouldn’t normally be in...helps me to deal with things outside circus”.  

Young Circus Participant

Circusful’s outreach programmes:

  • place participants’ needs at the centre of all of our work

  • offer challenge, creativity, physical and personal development through our ‘try, fail, grow’ model

  • raise self-esteem, improve team-working, and nurture community relations and a positive approach to physical activity and the arts

  • are flexible. When needs change, we adapt our programmes

Our outcomes:

Young people’s resilience, self-esteem and ability to focus improve through our social programmes. They demonstrate:

  • An improved ability to focus and listen. This is clear from their behaviour when in a group, their attentiveness when things are explained and their patience in turn-taking.

  • Increased resilience, which means accepting that failure is part of successful learning. Other adults in their lives report that the ability to cope with failure is transferring to new places of learning/development.

  • Enhanced self-esteem. They develop the confidence to take part in public performances and play an active role in the creative process.

  • Enthusiasm for physical activity. Circus provides an enjoyable way into both cardiovascular and strength-building activity.

  • Teacher confidence and fulfilment. This is clear from the sheer number of tutors putting themselves forward for social circus work following completion of the training course.

By developing young people’s physical health, confidence, and ability to make good choices, circus helps them to bounce back and define their own future. In these communities, that is hugely important.

All workshops are:

  • led by highly trained experts in stilt-walking, juggling, acrobatics, plate-spinning, tight-wire, diabolo and devil sticks

  • tailored to your group’s needs and planned at a location and time of your choice. You can choose between long-term weekly programmes that lead to a performance, medium-term programmes at a time/date/frequency to suit you or a short-term one off event. The choice is yours.

Use the form below or give us a call on 028 9023 6007 to find out more about how to bring Circusful to life in your area.

Our outreach partners

Read our dropdown menus below to find out more about some of our outreach programmes

Specialist partners +

  • Belfast Metropolitan College inclusion and disability unit
  • Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC)
  • Lakewood Secure Unit (Youth criminal justice.) — via NIACRO and People First
  • South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
  • Barnardo’s NI Fostering team

We have also worked with the Romanian Roma Community Association NI and Conway Mill Inclusion Support Project and other community-specific groups. We plan to continue this work in the future.

Urban and rural Youth Clubs / other youth providers +

  • Community Circus Lisburn (urban)
  • Suffolk; Ardoyne; Hammer; Cregagh (urban)
  • Portglenone; Ballyhornan (rural)
  • YMCAs: Carrickfergus and Portadown

Other arts organisations and projects +

  • BEAT carnival and Shankill lantern parade
  • In Your Space Circus, Derry (N Ireland)
  • Galway Community Circus School (ROI), Cloughjordan Circus School (ROI) and many other ROI/UK circus schools
  • Caravan and its 35 members. We have a direct relationship with many of them.

Others +

  • County Down Rural Community Network
  • Funders including Arts Council Northern Ireland, BBC Children in Need, education authorities and youth inclusion units amongst others.

Have a project we could help with?

We’d love to hear more! To discuss your requirements, contact us using the form below or telephone 028 9023 6007