Community Relations
Training in Social Circus
In 2000 Cirque du Soleil, in association with circus schools and other interested partners, set up an international training programme aimed at developing the teaching skills of instructors in youth-oriented social circus initiatives.
The difficulty of finding circus instructors able to work in a social context and the need for increasing the skills of those already involved was the driving force of this project. The installation of a social circus training programme seemed to us the next logical step to ensure the continuity of the Cirque du Monde programme and to support the development of social circus through other networks.
With this in mind, a set of contacts called the International Network for Social Circus Training (INSCT) was initiated to disseminate the theory and practice of social circus – first and foremost to support the development of children, young people, teenagers and others who are at risk or excluded from society.
INSCT brings together ten organizations from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Canada, Burkina Faso, Australia and South Africa. In addition to Cirque du Soleil and Jeunesse du Monde, an international cooperation NGO, its members come from professional and social circus schools.