As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on all of the amazing achievements and accomplishments that we have made throughout the year. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, but it’s important to recognise and celebrate the milestones we have reached.

We grew our youth and social outreach programme, filled our adult classes and sold out so many events. The number of people supporting Circus Factory also grew. Whether it was coming to classes, training in the space or even buying tickets to Pitch’d, we appreciate you. Before we get emotional, let’s raise a juggling ball or three as we look back at the year!

Adult Circus Classes at Circus Factory

• We ran 40 weeks of adult classes with over 100 regular adult students coming through our circus doors on a weekly basis.
• Our popular mixed aerial class on Mondays allows for new students to explore aerial training on different apparatus before specialising on a particular discipline.
• The adult students and their coaches put on a sold out showcase in June called In Bloom, with many taking to the stage for the very first time.
• We said a sad goodbye to our homegrown aerial coach Jordan Walshe as she set forth on new life adventures however we also expanded the coaching team with Giulia, Ciara and Lisa helping to deliver the adult programme.

*We also said hello to two new members of staff Megan (Marketing) and Izzy (Youth & Social Outreach).

Youth

• We have been running 3 regular classes throughout this year and will be bringing back our 4th class, for ages 13+, in the New Year.
• We have over 30 young people, ages 7 – 18, using the space regularly.
• We have taken part in 6 projects this year – both locally and nationally. These have included:
  • Circus Explored,
  • Cruinniu na nÓg,
  • Cork Harbour Festival,
  • Cork Midsummer Youth Parade,
  • Dragon of Shandon,
  • Cork Local Creative Youth Partnership (CETB)
• We have been and taken part in 2 Youth Circus trips including the Irish Youth Circus Gathering 2022 in Cloughjordon and the Irish Aerial Youth Exchange at the Irish Aerial Creation Centre.

Outreach

• We have delivered over 50 individual workshops giving hundreds of people an opportunity to have a new circus experience!
• We have collaborated with 20+ different organisations, helping us spread the circus magic to new parts of the community
• We have given circus workshops in 8 different schools across County Cork

Artists

• We welcomed international artists for bespoke training intensives including Spy Monkey (UK) Annie Ryan (IRL) Punchdrunk Enrichment (UK) Roberto Magro (Mallorca) Hand Down Circus (NI) Emmen Donnelly (NI) & Franco Di Berardino (IT).
• We awarded a total of 10 residencies at Circus Factory as part of our residency programme, Factory Days and Factory Bites.
• We partnered with Associate Artists Loosysmokes for the second year and supported the R&D of their new work ‘In Rhythm’ which premiered at Cork Midsummer Festival
• We piloted a brand new 3 month full time course in contemporary circus with 11 students taking part, some of whom travelled from the UK, Italy and Catalunya, especially to take part.

Audience numbers – (shows)

• In Bloom: Student Showcase: 100
• Community Cabaret: Jordanpalooza: 100
• Pirates: Youth Showcase: 80
• Circus Factory Presents:200

Pitch’d Circus and Street Arts Festival

• Artists Employed : 120
• Technicians Employed : 25
• Volunteers Engaged : 36
• Events Held : 39
• New Art Works Commissioned : 8
• Total audience number 9793

Sports Capital Grant

We were successfully awarded a sports capital grant to upgrade our facilities in 2021 and we completed this work in 2022 with a new semi permanent wall to wall floating sprung hardwood floor. We are so happy with the result and wish to thank the great work of Tom Gavin Tiles and Flooring (@tomgavintilesandflooringcork), and Steve Geary of Junkers.ie. The space feels so much warmer, brighter and overall safer with a sprung baton underlay with floating solid beech wood boards providing impact cushioning, reduction in performance fatigue, and, of course, a beautiful smooth top surface for all those hands and feet! Additional upgrades to the space include new crashmats, acromats, dance marley, an A frame ladder and battery powered telescopic lift for safer height access and inspections.

Social Media Awards

This year Circus Factory Cork are thrilled to announce we took home two social media awards at the annual social media competition (Sockies ’22).

• Circus Factory Cork won bronze for ‘Best use of Social Media for an Event’ and bronze for ‘Best Use of Instagram Strategy for NGO’
• Circus Factory Cork took home Bronze for our use of social media for an event – World Circus Day 2022. The entire social media campaign used organic content. This category was open to all entrees including large businesses and agencies, not just NGOs.

Thank you to our funders, sponsors and partners namely the Arts Council, Cork City Council Arts Office and Cork County Council Arts Offic, Cork ETB, Tomar Trust and The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.