Press Release: For immediate Release
Contact: American Circus Alliance, Brattleboro Vermont
Serenity Smith Forchion (Co-Chair Board of Directors)
(802) 318-2639 / trapeze@sover.net
Circus Sector Economic Impact Survey
A group of American circus practitioners has come together during the pandemic to found a service and advocacy organization by and for the people involved with the production and presentation of the American circus. The organization, called the American Circus Alliance, is an all-volunteer group representing a broad spectrum of circus genres from classical to contemporary, including theatrical, outdoors, tented, and even virtual. The group is in the process of filing for not-for-profit status, and has spent much time during pandemic shutdown putting the nuts and bolts of the organization together in preparation for a formal launch in spring, 2021.
This preview of the coming launch is being shared because an important and time-sensitive item of business is to oversee a preliminary economic impact survey of American circus during the COVID-19 crisis. Board Secretary Ariele Ebacher, a wire walker formerly with the Big Apple Circus and No Fit State Circus, urged participation, saying “This survey will provide crucial information on how the pandemic has adversely affected the circus performance industry and will help as we advocate for support on a national level.”
Composed of just five key questions, the survey should take only minutes to fill out, and will lay a foundation for what the ACA can do to help the circus art form in the United States. The Impact of Covid-19 on Circus Sector survey should be completed by March 29th as the group intends to participate in the nationwide Be An Arts Hero advocacy campaign on April 22nd.
“Our ACA website is pending atwww.americancircusalliance.org,” says Board co-Chair Serenity Smith Forchion, an award winning aerialist who is known in the industry for her work as a performer with Cirque du Soleil, as founder of Nimble Arts and as founder and Producing Director of New England Center for Circus Arts. “Until that is ready for registrations, anyone interested in receiving further information can sign up for our mailing list, at this link.
Results of the survey will be shared with state and national legislators and made public through the ACA website upon launch.
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