Assistance for the homeless of family circuses is intended to support circuses that choose to offer itinerant shows, taking place under a tent. This grant from the Ministry of Culture is intended to reduce the cost of transport and installation of marquees.

Presentation of the device

What is help for homeless family circuses?

The traditional circus consists of a few large circuses and hundreds of so-called «family» circuses of small size. These circuses prefer shows of numbers with animals, they circulate from towns to villages and present their shows under capitals.

The tent and its roaming are elements of the circus identity, its history, its practice, its aesthetics and its relationship to the inhabitants of the territories.

Assistance for the roaming of family circuses promotes the distribution of circus under marquee with special attention to areas with a low cultural offer. This aid is intended to specific costs related to marquee roaming : assembly and disassembly costs, approach costs (fuel oil, motorway, etc.), maintenance costs of the equipment, wages of the labour needed to roam the tent.

Assistance for the homeless of family circuses is allocated over a roaming season, calculated over a maximum period of 12 months, from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The roaming season can be continuous or discontinuous in several rounds (a tour is between the departure and return of the convoy to the usual circus installation site). It must concern several cities or stages. It must include at least 50 performances of one or more shows produced by the requesting circus, presented under its marquee.

Am I concerned by this approach?

Proceeding

Examples of projects previously supported

In 2022, six family circuses were helped, which toured throughout France, for amounts from €6,000 to €12,000, to help them cover the costs related to roaming, such as assembly and disassembly costs, approach costs, fuel and motorway, etc.

A question?

If you have any questions about assistance with homeless family circuses, please contact:

Creative Arts Branch (BOD)
Theatre and associated arts delegation
aidesnationales-rueetcirque@culture.gouv.fr
01 40 15 88 83
62 Rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris