The EU co-financed project RIGGERS just finished its second seminar and is off to its last year of exciting activities. The two-year project has been developed to answer the needs of riggers in higher circus education, with the aim of enhancing the quality of safety measures and creating an international community eager to exchange skills, advice and expertise to be transmitted to future generations.
Johan Bodin, rigger at SKH, lead a session at the seminar together with his colleague from École Nationale de Cirque de Montréal, one of the eight participating educational institutions.
- Our session was on issues connected to student performances open to an audience, and we were amazed at how much we had in common. Even though the situation can differ a lot between different countries and even different schools, we largely have the same experiences, troubles and challenges.
- Building trusting relationships and communication with international colleagues like this will really benefit us and our circus schools in so many ways. For example in the sharing of best practices but also in getting the support from your peers when arguing for measures to be taken in your home institution.
Project coordination
SKH is the main coordinator for the RIGGERS project but has chosen to involve The European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC) as a co-coordinator.
The FEDEC Spring Talks, gathering leaders of circus education from all of Europe and beyond, was running in parallel to the RIGGERS seminar in Montpellier which created great synergies. Most importantly, the project presented its results and activities to a highly relevant audience and many connections were made.
- We are extremely grateful for having FEDEC as co-coordinator. Being a highly regarded umbrella organization for circus education institutions, they are important in facilitating the project but also an ideal host for the resources created by the project, making them accessible for the future, says Jorun Kugelberg, the international relations coordinator at SKH.
The European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC) includes 80+ members in 20+ countries in Europe and beyond.
Congratulations Alisan!
During the FEDEC Spring Talks, Alisan Funk, Head of the Bachelor’s programme in Circus and Head of Circus Arts at SKH, was re-elected to the FEDEC board for another 3-year term. She will thereby continue to represent SKH on the 12-member board.
