The project in summary
Visits by Fekat Circus professionals to Cambodia and by Phare professionals to Ethiopia to get to know and experience the activities of social circus carried out in the respective countries and join The African Circus Arts Festival.
To promote a process of constructive comparison of the practices and standards of the organizations involved, and enabling understanding of their respective artistic approaches, pedagogical methodologies and marketing strategies.
3 Fekat Circus professionals and 3 Phare Ponleu Selpak professionals; children and youth who are the beneficiaries of the projects undertaken by these two associations.
Fekat Circus in Ethiopia and Phare Ponleu Selpak in Cambodia share a social approach using circus arts and promoting the local culture through the continuous offer of artistic workshops for disadvantaged children and youth.
Through Fekat Circus’s “Circus, Berta!”, aimed at the realization of the African Circus Arts Festival supported by the European Union Delegation in Ethiopia, AMI and AMG supported this exchange, which included reciprocal visits to experience the activities of the social circuses carried out in the respective countries.
Through these exchanges, Fekat Circus and Phare Ponleu Selpak were able to broaden their visions, discover different models of circus organizations working in the social field, become more aware of the artistic and cultural context of the host country, deepen the artistic programming and the work of the artists premises from which they can draw inspiration, also exploring possible future collaborations.
In the first phase, the professionals of Fekat Circus travelled to Cambodia in March 2017 to visit the social activities undertaken in Battambang: the performing arts school (circus, theatre, dance, music), the VAAS- Visual and applied arts school, as well as the educational and social activities offered by Phare Ponleu Selpak. Subsequently, the three professionals visited the Enterprise Circus, which Phare Ponleu Selpak began in Siem Reap to present their shows, which are prepared during the workshops, to the local tourists. In a second phase, in February/March 2018, during the second edition of the African Circus Festival, three Phare Ponleu Selpak professionals travelled to Ethiopia to visit the activities of the Fekat Circus, which are carried out daily, and to participate to the African Circus Arts Festival held in Addis Ababa from February 28 to March 4, 2018 with the participation of 6 Ethiopian circuses and 5 other African circuses from Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Guinea and Mozambique. During the festival, the Fekat Circus inaugurated its new tent and managed the organization of workshops, meetings, meetings and the presentation of numerous shows.
