Circus can enable people, as citizens, to have a connection to their locality, temporarily when viewing work in a village field, town square and mobile venue or longer term when a circus embeds itself within the community as a key player. When we think about circus, most people picture a big top but Astley, credited as the inventor of circus, built wooden structures to present circus in and later major cities in Europe created circus buildings. These can still be found today in Great Yarmouth (England) and locations including Riga (Lativa.) Circus here literally changed the landscape.

Circus is of course an artform without several of the barriers that the public encounter when engaging with other types of performance. Language is perhaps the most significant, with the physicality of the artists being at the heart of the presentation. The international dimension of circus and exchange of ideas are key elements. Collaboration is as central to circus as mobility is. The nature of circus performances enable arts and non-arts audiences to find meaning and value in the work presented without the need to understand the codes that some other artforms require.

The UK has a thriving traditional circus scene, with circus tents appearing in rural and urban spaces located close to where audience members live. For a few days, the public walk by caravans, painted trucks and the big top, with passers-by hearing circus music and applause, even if they do not buy a ticket to see the show. The circus reframes the space. So, where circus is presented, offers a unique ability for people to intentionally or accidentally engage with the art form including when shows are presented outdoors. Often in a festival context, performances are programmed in a public park. In the UK, these shows are most often free.

New work is commissioned by festivals, at times with a view to change how the public engages with the area, including shows that interweave stories from the community. Open Lines (2023), a site-specific piece was presented by Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) in Woolwich, London (England.) This high-wire performance by Cie Basinga (France), featured internationally renowned tight-rope walker Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga and integrated local residents directly into the physical and symbolic structure of the performance. The show took place in an area of regeneration. Bloom (2025) created by Upswing (England) for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture offered a large-scale outdoor circus performance created to celebrate the spirit of Bradford (England) and its people. This featured local performers and community choirs alongside acrobats and aerialists from Upswing. Surge Festival (Scotland) programmed Follow Me (2025) by Be Flat (Belgium), offering a unique tour of Glasgow's streets, facades and cobblestones. SIRF25 (England) presented Head Over Wheels (2025) by Anchored in Air (England), a disabled and non-disabled circus company, with a large tower in the public space temporarily transforming Stockton High Street.

Like many countries, the UK has towns where high streets are failing. In some locations, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are created by retailers and landlords in order to develop Town Centre Policies. Often, their business plans include actions that involve cultural venues and creative practitioners to change how people use and think about spaces. Public spaces, in the main, have gatekeepers in the form of local councils or landowners, requiring negotiation around permissions. Building relationships with these gatekeepers can enable circus work of scale to be presented, such as the City of London Corporation's Destination City Programme (England.) Here Resurgam (2023) by Bandaloop (US) offered a performance with vertical dancers suspended from the iconic façade of St Paul’s Cathedral. On a smaller scale, in 2024 Derby’s Cathedral Quarter BID (England) organised a free day of circus shows in Derby's Market Place.

Between 2021 and 2023, I was the Artistic Director of Kensington and Chelsea Festival in London (England.) One of my aims was to change how local people engaged with public spaces. For example, I asked Chris Bullzini with The Bullzini Family Circus (England) to present Earth and Sky (2023) in a park close to the Grenfell Tower (the site of a nationally impactful tragedy caused by fire) and next to one England's highest areas of deprivation. This world-class high-wire walker, led a troupe of aerial artists and musicians in a large-scale outdoor circus spectacle, blended physical performance with a thematic message. Turning up in the park as we did, with the circus equipment and deck chairs, changed the landscape for local residents for the short time that the performances took place.

Memories created through engaging with circus in outdoor spaces, either as an audience member or a professional, provide timestamps related to the performance, the location, the people you were with and the person that you were at that age. Circus has the power to transform.

Photo: Wild, by Motionhouse © GDIF

Verena Cornwall

Verena Cornwall has been working in or with circus (traditional and contemporary) and outdoor arts for forty years, as a commissioner, programmer, policy maker and consultant. She runs Circus Futures and is a Board Member of the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain. Verena is a founding partner of the European initiatives Circostrada and circusnext. She has held nationally significant roles, including as Principal of English National Ballet School (UK) and Creative Director for St Patrick's Festival (ROI.) Verena recently completed a PhD, with a focus on circus in Europe and the UK.