The Irish Street Arts, Circus and Spectacle Network (ISACS) aims to initiate a pilot Social Circus Training Programme, run in conjunction with FDYS Youth Services (responsible for recruitment & venue), for young people in Wexford. Social Circus has become well recognised as a highly successful medium with which to engage young people, particularly those who engage in risk taking behaviour and vulnerable young adults. It provides positive, physical and challenging activities which stimulate, inspire, encourage and motivate young people to learn. As the young people achieve certain seemingly impossible goals, their confidence and self-esteem soars. This has been proven in countless studies, most relevant here through the engagement of Youth at Risk in Belfast through the Belfast Community Circus and also in Galway through the Galway Community Circus. ISACS wish to initiate a project which can explore the possibility of circus for change in Wexford, for the future physical, mental and emotional health and development of the young people who participate.
The project consists of the provision of a pilot youth circus training programme, ‘Sorcas Garman’, a series of youth centered, skills development workshops by qualified youth circus workers in juggling, uni-cycling, poi, acro-yoga, spinning plates & manipulation, stilt walking & dancing, hula hoops, and performance/clown skills. ISACS will organise and manage the programme and will be supported by the FDYS who will recruit the young people and provide the venue. The programme will consist of 30 training workshops, once a week for 2 hours per session, for 15 young people, providing them with in team building, safe risk taking, building self-confidence, trust, teamwork, responsibility, and expression. This will be achieved through the use of circus props, and a combination of circus skills mentioned above.
Delivering a social circus project of this nature in Wexford has the potential to transform many young people’s lives and is an innovative approach to supporting young people’s development. Through the course, ISACS hopes to demonstrate to young people, their worth, their potential, their skills and their abilities. The project will not only teach them unbelievable tricks and techniques, but will equip them with social skills, personal development, team work, trust, risk taking and responsibility at the same time.
