Young Caravan

Our young people join eachother on international adventures by exchanging their knowledge and creativity with other circus schools throughout the network. In this international circus camp, they take part in exciting workshops, exchange circus practice and create a show together at the end of the experience. 

What About Youth ? (W.A.Y)

In the photo, clockwise from top left:

Paavo Kivimaki – Sorin Sirkus, Luke McFarlane – Circusful, Julien Cottenie – CircusPlaneet, Pauline Ducuroir – Ecole de Cirque de Bruxelles, Dorothea Hofmeisterová – CIRQUEON, Caoimhe O Dochartaigh Barr – Galway Community Circus, Lorenzo Morello – Altro Circo, Nastja Fekonja – Skala.

Missing: Arianna Scaglia – Altro Circo, Tracy Madi – Cirqu’en Ciel, Julia Rafidi – Palestinian Circus School.

What is W.A.Y?

For many years Caravan has been talking about having youth leadership and empowerment at the head of our strategy. Thanks to the development of the ‘Youth Advisory Group’ in 2021, we were able to make that dream a reality, and implement a strong youth lead approach for our activities. Based on the work done in 2021, the Youth Advisory group continued to meet online in the first half of 2022, and in the autumn and winter, they were able to meet twice in person. It was during their first meeting in Finland that they decided to change their name to more accurately reflect their identity:

The Caravan W.A.Y is a group of 10 young representatives from our member organisations, who are the pioneers and voices of the young communities from accross our network.

Their objectives are to amplify the voices of the young people in their respective communities, and help determine the future direction of the network. They operate within the following guiding principles:

  • Mutual Respect
  • Exchanging Ideas
  • Non-Judgemental
  • Possibility of making mistakes
  • Voluntary and responsible participation
  • Solidarity
  • Inspiring
  • Signalling
  • Change Makers

Youth Participation in Caravan

Youth Participation in Caravan

Research conducted by Sovhi Silius in May 2019, mapping the current state of youth participation within the Caravan Youth and Social Circus Network.

Read the summary report

Read the full report

The objective of this report is to paint a picture of the current state of youth participation within Caravan Circus Network. The idea to conduct this report came from discussions in a working group in the General Assembly of Caravan, organised in Prague 14th to 15th of February 2019. The group discussing youth involvement pointed out that there is no information available on what activities the member organisations are already doing regarding youth participation, and what their attitudes are towards it.

Also, the group concluded that it would be important to look the theoretical part of youth participation and think about why and how Caravan wants to develop youth participation within the network.

The report is based on a questionnaire sent to all the members of Caravan Circus Network and interviews that were conducted with both young people and adult organisers, relatingto the theme of youth participation.

Circus Legends Youth Exchange, Prague 2018

Circus Legends Youth Exchange, Prague 2018

Partners:
CIRQUEON (Prague, Czech Republic)
Galway Community Circus (Galway, Ireland)
Belfast Community Circus School (Belfast, United Kingdom)
Zaltimbanq ‘Zirkus (Luxembourg)
Skala (Slovenia)


In 2018, circuses from six countries met in Prague for a youth exchange, during which, under the direction of Lukáš Houdka, they studied the legends of the participating nations, looking for their similarities and differences, as well as the possibilities to introduce them through the techniques of the new circus. 


Youth Feedback:
“I loved being responsible for my own learning as I can push myself in order to achieve and grow as much as possible. I discovered that I work far harder than I had believed and not only that but also achieve far more than I had thought.”

GALWAY youth exchange 11 – 19 JULY 2016,

GALWAY youth exchange 11 – 19 JULY 2016,

40 young people and circus teachers from circus schools accross Europe head to Galway to spend a week meeting new people from the European circus community. The participants travelled from Ecole de Cirque de Bruxelles in Belgium, Cirqueon in the Czech Republic, Altro Circo in Italy, Sorin Sirkus in Finland and Skala in Slovenia and were met by their hosts from Galway Community Circus.

Click here to see the pictures of the wonderful exchange

Youth exchange, Wavre, Belgium, 6 – 14 JULY 2014

1 WEEK, 1 COMMON CREATION, 1 SHOW, 30 EUROPEAN YOUNG PEOPLE, 7 DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES.

Which kid has ever dreamed of participating in a European creation gathering young people from 7 different nationalities? You dreamed it, Caravan did it! From 6 to 14 July, more than 50 young people will live together a fantastic experience: during a week they created a show which was on the programme of the P’tit Cirq’en Palc Festival, the meeting for amateur circus schools in Belgium. Guided by professional circus artists, the European youngsters learned how to create a show in a multicultural context and lived the festival at the same rhythm as real artists.

Youth Exchange: Tampere, Finland. 21 – 29 July 2012

Youth Exchange: Tampere, Finland. 21 – 29 July 2012

This youth exchange was hosted by Sorin Sirkus and gathered young people from the Caravan’s members. Thanks to this event, the young participants had the chance to learn more about the European programmes in the field of Youth and the possibilities to create or to participate in social circus projects. The exchange aimed also to contribute to the intercultural dialogue in Europe. A fabulous show was presented at the end of the exchange.

Email info@caravancircusnetwork.eu
Phone  +32 (0)492 12 71 71

 

Rue Picard 3
1000 Brussels
Belgium