OUTDOOR CIRCUS PERFORMANCE MARCH – MAY 2025  

Summertime means performing time  

How lovely it is to perform at outdoor festivals, meet lots of different people and come in close contact with your audience. Are you thinking of creating a circus performance for the outdoors yourself?   

Then we have the perfect opportunity for you!  

We have a budget, help you with funding for more, support you throughout the process and provide around 10-20 performances at schools and squares in Rotterdam in April 2025. By the end of the trajectory, your show will be ready for touring the festival circuit, as many of the previous year’s creations still are.  

Attention: This call is aimed at artists living in the Netherlands or with a strong connection to the Dutch field and able to organize housing during the creation and performing period.  

Stadsparade is our version of the ‘Classic Circus Parade’ to tell the city that: “The circus is coming to town”. It is our way to show a broad Rotterdam audience the taste and feel of contemporary circus and at the same time promote the festival. Every year we co-produce a short outdoor circus performance to tour many primary schools and other public spaces in Rotterdam as an introduction to Circusstad Festival. It’s a fun introduction to the circus we represent. For the performers, it’s also a great way to develop and test new outdoor circus work to a broad and highly responsive audience. Every year we reach about 10.000 people with this tour all over Rotterdam.   

What we offer:    

• Part of the budget for about 1 or 2 artists for creation and performances.  
• You get a great deal of accompaniment/mentoring from the Circusstad team for all the different aspects of creating, funding, producing, promoting, networking and touring a new production.   
• A contract for about 2 months    
• The opportunity to test a new show in depth.    
• Your creation will also be part of the Dutch Circus Showcase during Circusstad 2025.  

What we ask:    

• A new creation of a 15-30 minute outdoor show of ‘fresh, fun, quirky, spectacular, personal’ circus   
• Suitable for outdoors (no rigging, or a self-supporting easy rig).    
• Suitable for a young audience (so only Dutch text or no text)   
• Suitable to be performed 20 times at school squares at primary schools and other squares in and    around Rotterdam. Accessible to an audience between 40 and 400 children and adults.    
• You live/work in the Netherlands, preferably in or around Rotterdam.    
• You’ve graduated from Codarts or ACaPA or have professional circus experience.  
• You speak (enough) Dutch to address an audience and tell them about our festival.   
• Availability in March/April/early May 2025.  

Does this sound like the perfect challenge for you?    

Please fill out this Google form: Stadsparade Circusstad Festival 2025  https://forms.gle/eqxGf3y9wv8Lki8T8  and check https://circusstad.nl/en/makers/ 

Apply at the latest 12 May 2024!   

As artistic director of Circusstad Festival, I’m very much looking forward to reading your proposals.   

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to send a mail to menno@circusstad.nl or joerdis@circusstad.nl 

Kind regards,    

Menno van Dyke, Artistic Director Circusstad Festival