Social Projects

Do you work to build a more inclusive and equitable city ?! We too!

Culture and sports is a wonderful combination, and in addition, Cirkus Unik has developed various services to reach those who need us most or the city’s most vulnerable children. We have five different concepts that we offer. Feel free to contact us and we will adapt the concept to your business!

Asset 16

CIRCUS FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Our performances always have important and relevant messages for children and young people and want to inspire them to dare to be themselves and dream.

Cirkus Unik is now creating a new exciting performance that will be shown in middle schools selected in consultation with the Student Health Team in Gothenburg and the Västra Götaland region.

The theater, music and circus performance, Monster, is about a child who struggles with his unconscious feelings and thoughts and low self-esteem. During the performance, he discovers himself and becomes friends with his thoughts and feelings

Two artists on stage, an exciting innovative structure with a rope and a new aerial acrobatics act give a new aesthetic expression to the performance.

The show is interactive and the children can express their reflections on the show and have the opportunity to think about their own “monsters”.

Follow-up with students takes place in groups and individually with expression in poetry, image or sculpture in close collaboration with the Student Health Team and teachers.

Asset 13

Competence Development with Kulturskolan

One project under development is Competence Development, a pedagogical complementary education program in 2021 and 2022 for dance-, drama-and circus educators within the Kulturskolan in the Västra Götaland region.
The idea for the project started after Kulturskolan expressed a desire to take part in our pedagogy and methodology to use in their own activities.
Our inclusive circus pedagogy increases children’s self-esteem and group belonging and has effective results on both physical and mental health. With our complementary education program, we look forward to recruiting new ambassadors for our pedagogy and in this way reach even more children in Gothenburg and in the region.
Through theory and workshops on three occasions during a semester Cirkus Unik wants to offer inspiration, tools and reflections to contribute to pedagogical development. Our workshop is led by some of Cirkus Unik’s educators / artists.
Skills development is a three-year project (2020-22) funded by the Västra Götaland region, Cultural Strategic Development Support (KSU) which aims to increase knowledge within circus in the region.

Asset 18

Functional Variations

Cirkus Unik works in a Gothenburg school with children with functional variations. We have seen the children make tremendous progress in just a few lessons with increased self-esteem and better group collaboration as a result and both school management and parents are asking for continued cooperation.

These children find it very difficult to attend regular sports education. Complicated rules and lengthy reviews are difficult and do not often lead to feelings of exclusion and to conflicts. Contemporary circus for them means a new and freer training. Contemporary circus with its universal language means a great relief for children with language difficulties.

In the circus you do not compete with others; each child develops at his own pace with joy and with just himself as a yardstick. All children are unique!

Partners

Kulturrådet- the Culture Council

The Swedish Arts Council, via Scenkonst Projektbidrag 2021, supports our new performance Monster, which will be performed to students in middle school and is part of our work for Mental Health among children in the Region.

Västra Götaland Region

VGR has supported Cirkus Unik since its start and will fund a three-year period through Culture-Strategic Support in 2020-22 with the aim of widening participation for children in culture. Our tour during 2019-20 with the show Dare 2 Be! has been supported by VGR and the Culture Administration.

the Gothenburg Opera

In 2019, we start an exciting collaboration with the Gothenburg Opera via Create Dance. Some older students from the circus school are participating in the new collaboration with the aim of inspiring, sharing experiences and making art more accessible to children and young people.

Kulturskolan

Since the start we have had a stable, fruitful and fun collaboration in order to offer children in Fritids meaningful activity in circus schools all over Gothenburg, where inclusion in society through culture has been our shared values.

Jämlikt Göteborg

During 2018 and 2019 our circus school in several districts in Gothenburg was co-financed by the Jämlikt Göteborg in their efforts to create a more egalitarian city. It is a project that is not only culture, but also working for social sustainability.

World Culture Museum

A fantastic partner with many shared values. Together we organized Baby Circus in autumn and winter, Circus Festival for all our circus students and a circus show for all museum visitors in the spring and in summer workshops.

Skapande Skola

Cirkus Unik has collaborated with Skapande Skola - Västra Göteborg during many years in projects such as Functional Variations and Circus Relay. Thanks to Skapande Skola, we have also been able to contribute in other municipalities such as Alingsås, Ale, Lerum, etc.

The Erik and Lily Philipson Memorial Fund Foundation

The foundation wants to support us in our social projects with reference to common values and goals. In the spring of 2020, we will start our first joint project, which provides opportunities for children with functional variations in speech, language and vision to practice circus in school.