Press Release

Whilst the famous Canadian troupe play to sell-out crowds at the Royal Albert Hall, the UK’s ‘new circus’ is still under-developed and much of its activity is low-key and community-based. Only a handful of performers are full-time professionals and most have to supplement their income with earnings from other types of employment, such as training and administration.

The research, Developing New Circus in Britain by Dominic Moody, is published in the Policy Studies Institute’s journal Cultural Trends 28.

Over the past ten years, there has been growing interest in new circus and numerous agencies and training schools have been launched to promote it. But the UK has not spent any significant public money on new circus, unlike Australia. Nor has it developed a national circus strategy, unlike France, Canada and Australia. As a result, there is no realistic prospect of a UK company following in the footsteps of Cirque du Soleil, which has grown from a handful of street performers into a $30m business employing 1,250 artists.

A snapshot survey conducted for Cultural Trends demonstrates that existing new circus companies are quite small, with few employing more than four full-time performers. On average, these companies undertake over 100 performances a year, mostly at open-air festivals. Over half also run workshops and provide training.

Whilst the traditional circus survives on box-office takings, the PSI survey suggests that new circus derives only a tiny fraction (2%) of its income from ticket sales. The vast majority comes from performance fees paid by promoters (74%) with the remainder being made up by teaching fees (11%) and small grants from sources such as trusts, arts boards, local councils, the Arts Council and the National Lottery (10%).

New circus performers tend to be men rather than women and most are aged between 21 and 35. Only eleven per cent are over 40. Overall, it is estimated that between 2,000 and 5,000 people generate some earnings from the circus in the UK.

‘The phenomenal success of ‘new circus’ shows how effective it can be to invest in cultural industries’ said Sara Selwood, editor of Cultural Trends. ‘Companies like Cirque du Soleil, who began as street performers, are now one of Canada’s most successful worldwide exports. Without such investment, however, these international touring companies might still have been performing on the streets of cities like Quebec and Melbourne. We need to decide whether we are prepared to rank new popular arts forms as equals to the more traditional arts like theatre, opera and ballet and invest public funding accordingly.’