The Stage

ACE to review its approach to circus

Published Tuesday 7 June 2005 at 11:55 by Alistair Smith

Arts Council England will conduct a 12-month review into its circus strategy as it attempts to readdress the way it distributes funding in the sector.

Leading figures from within the circus industry will be consulted as ACE assesses how its original strategy, published in 2002, is helping the artform and how priorities for public investment have changed over the past three years.

David Micklem, the theatre officer for ACE heading the review, commented: “What I want to do over the next 12 months is not to repeat the exercise again [the circus strategy report], but rather a ‘health check’. We will speak to a few key members in the circus community and see whether our objectives have changed. Certainly the arts council has changed in that time.

“We will do the same ‘health check’ on the strategy’s sister document for street arts. We don’t want them to be overly bureaucratic. We will be asking whether we are still on course and whether these are still the right ways of prioritising our funding.”

In the course of the review, Micklem expects to consult around 40 leading members in the industry, from those involved with training to commercial tented operations.

Meanwhile, ACE, in collaboration with Independent Street Arts Network, the Circus Arts Forum and Equity, is drafting a second copy of its step by step guide on how the government’s updated Licensing Act will affect circuses and street artists.

The organisation believes an updated version is necessary after the recent difficulties in applying for licenses experienced by Zippos Circus, which has been acting as a test case for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The new guide will be available in November, when the act is expected to come into force.