SAIL - Support for Advocacy, Influence and Leverage

A targeted micro-grant programme to strengthen advocacy, boost visibility, and enhance recognition of contemporary circus and outdoor arts across Europe.

Boost your advocacy. Strengthen your voice. SAIL supports contemporary circus and outdoor arts at every level.

SAIL is a micro-grant programme designed to support Circostrada members' advocacy strategy and to leverage the network’s European influence to enhance their visibility, recognition, and legitimacy in the eyes of public funders and key stakeholders, whether at the local, regional, or national level. It supports relevant, context-based actions or projects that serve the general interest of contemporary circus and/or outdoor arts. The programme is structured around three key strands: Cultural Rights, Ecological Transformation and Digital Transformation. It runs continuously until August 2028 and is open exclusively to Circostrada members.

THEMATIC FOCUS

SAIL is built around three interconnected areas of transformation that reflect key challenges and ambitions of the contemporary circus and outdoor arts sectors. Projects may align with one or several of the following strands:

Cultural Rights: Advocating for the right of everyone to access, participate in, and contribute to cultural life. This includes actions that support diversity, representation, community empowerment, and the fair recognition of artistic practices within local, regional or national contexts.
Ecological Transformation: Promoting environmental responsibility in the sector through advocacy, awareness-raising, and structural change. This involves for example rethinking how we produce, tour, collaborate and engage with institutions and public policies in light of the ecological crisis.
Digital Transformation: Supporting the cultural sector in navigating digital change — from digital inclusion and access to tools, to rethinking processes, formats and platforms for artistic creation, communication and advocacy.

ELIGIBILITY & ACTIVITIES

The programme is open exclusively to Circostrada members.

Projects must align with at least one of the three strands - Cultural Rights / Ecological Transformations / Digital Transformation in the fields of contemporary circus or outdoor arts. They must aim to increase the applicant’s visibility, recognition, or legitimacy with public funders or decision-makers. They must have the potential to serve the general interest of contemporary circus and/or outdoor arts.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, depending on available budget. The coordination team will consider the following criteria:

Relevance and strength of the proposed action
Potential for concrete and measurable impact
Integration into a broader advocacy strategy
Diversity of actions across applications and across the three strands (Cultural Rights, Ecological and Digital Transformation)
Geographical and sectoral balance
Previous receipt of a SAIL grant (considered, not exclusionary)
A special attention will be paid to the ecological consciousness.

Note: The coordination team is available to advise and guide applicants at all stages of their application.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please complete this form.

Applications are open on a rolling basis during the whole duration of the EU funded CS VOICES project until August 2028, with no fixed deadlines.

Note: Submit one SAIL request at a time. If applying for multiple projects, submit a separate request for each.

If you're interested but not sure where to start, reach out to Circostrada coordinator: alice.brunot@artcena.fr

FINANCIAL ASPECTS

Maximum Grant amount of 1000€ (all taxes included)
Approximately 24 grants will be awarded over the course of the CS VOICES EU funded programme (2024-2028)
Circostrada does not contact providers or manage financial transactions directly. Members must advance the costs and will receive the grant after completion of the activity.

In order to get reimbursed, you will have to send us an invoice from your organisation with the supporting invoices proving the expenses.

Ineligible costs include: daily allowances, meals, fuel, taxi, salaries, capital assets, equipment acquisition, and catering.

EXAMPLE OF ELIGIBLE PROJECTS  (non-exhaustive)

SAIL supports relevant, context-based actions or projects. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of formats that could be supported:

Translating, printing, disseminating articles or publications in any medium
Designing an advocacy campaign
Commissioning a study or mapping of key stakeholders and narratives to strengthen your national advocacy efforts
Organising training or peer-learning sessions to build collective capacity in advocacy, digital innovation, and eco-responsibility
Supporting European expert mobility or knowledge sharing actions
Inviting a high-profile guest to a key strategic event (e.g. anniversary).
Hosting professional meetings involving policy makers to amplify voices and gain political visibility.

Here are some concrete examples of projects that would not fit the programme (the following list is non exhaustive):

Actions unrelated to advocacy or not serving the general interest
Actions that are part of your main or day-to-day activities
Actions whose outcomes cannot be measured
Actions with illegible costs

COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING

Circostrada is committed to highlight and amplify the impacts of supported projects within the network and beyond.

Beneficiaries are required to:

Use the Circostrada and Creative Europe logos on all communication materials related to the supported action.
Share relevant photos, quotes, or results that may be promoted across Circostrada channels (website, newsletters, social media)
Share their advocacy stories with the network and its members
Submit a short report on the project's implementation and impact
Agree to be contacted by Circostrada’s coordination team for communication and promotion purposes and to share your experience with the network during events or videoconferences.
Agree to being contacted by Circostrada external evaluator (as part of the CS VOICES 2024–2028 project) for a border impact assessment of the programme

Resources (logos, guidelines) are available in the Internal Communication section of the Circostrada website (via member login).

GREEN MOBILITY

Circostrada is Shift Eco-certificated, and encourages environmentally responsible stay and travel options, such as train travel over flights whenever feasible. Eco-conscious projects/activities will be prioritised.

That said, we remain inclusive: members without access to green travel options (e.g., those who must fly) will still be fully eligible.

SAIL activity is open since 2022. Below you will find all the activities supported by Circostrada network, with the aim of increasing the visibility, recognition and legitimacy of contemporary circus and outdoor arts in the eyes of public funders and key stakeholders (whether local, regional or national). The programme only supports actions carried out by members that are relevant to their context and serve the general interest of the sectors.

Latitude 50 inauguration

First digging in January 2020, launch of the artists' residencies in January 2021 and installation of the tier in July 2022... This is it, the Cirque de Latitude 50 is now ready to receive its public on October 14th, 2022! Marchinois, artists, professionals or simply curious, joined to celebrate the arrival of this unique place dedicated to circus and street arts.

Know more about the agenda of the day HERE

ROOM 100 - Yearbook of Croatian contemporary circus and outdoor arts

The Contemporary circus artists association together with Cirkorama, Cirkus Kolektiv and ROOM 100 started publishing a “Yearbook of Croatian contemporary circus and street arts" in 2021. This yearbook is the first example of a systematic recording of contemporary circus and outdoor arts in Croatia, which is a significant moment for the scene now, but also for its future development. Through five chapters, the yearbook documents contemporary circus and outdoor arts productions, national, regional and international collaboration projects, educational and socially engaged programs and the presence of circus and outdoor arts in other artistic genres.

The bilingual - Croatian and English - yearbook covering 2022 is in the making. We would like for it to be a part of the Annual General Meeting in Split in April 2023. In this way the information about hardworking Croatian circus and the outdoor sector will spread across Europe. We hope with this increased visibility we will spark, set in motion, more international collaborations with Croatian circus and outdoor artists and organization.

EYE'S WALK DIGITAL FESTIVAL

Eye’s Walk Digital festival is interested in fostering outdoor art and especially in contributing to the redistribution of ownership and power among the communities whose voice is diminished in the public space. In 2023 Eye’s Walk Digital festival is preparing a “Memoryscape-Soundscape walk” based on oral histories and testimonies of the citizens of Syros who live and work alongside the coastal area of Ermoupolis, an area that includes “Neorio Shipyard” among other industrial public and private buildings. Although the shipyard due to its 160 years of operation, is deeply rooted in the collective memory of Ermoupolis, its official history seems to exclude labor class memories while encouraging narratives derived from the Shipyard’s hierarchy, investors, government’s representatives. Nowadays we are witnessing a polarization and an intense confrontation among the hierarchy of the Shipyard and the citizens of Ermoupolis as a result of concerns expressed by the latter regarding the environmental footprint of the industry. In 2020 Neorio has pursued judicially citizens-representatives of the local Observatory for the Environment, using the so called “Slapp method”.

Into this context we are persuaded that an advocacy campaign must be part of the creation of the Memoryscape walk alongside the port (which will include among other narratives,sound art, performances as well as oral histories from the shipyard’s past and current employees). The advocacy campaign will empower our participatory, artistic project, since, due to the “unfriendly” and suspicious behavior of the representatives of the Shipyard, citizens and students are afraid to share their memories, their oral histories and consequently they are prevented from exercising their political and artistic functioning freely; they cannot voice their ideas on social art, outdoor activities ,freedom, heritage and environment. On the other hand our participatory artistic project in the outdoor area, will give to the society of Syros a sense of power, confidence and pride in order for them to take an active role in their community, to be the narrators of their own stories and to create art in the public space as well as public advocacy.

Dynamo

DYNAMO Circus Seminars is a biannual event – a series of talks, debates, panels, workshops, work in progress and reflections taking place in Odense, Denmark. The Seminars aim to facilitate a platform for organizers, producers, performers and creators to share knowledge and best practices across the region. We take a starting point in current realities and challenges in the field, with a focus on imagining and designing a more sustainable future for contemporary circus, in the Nordic Region and beyond.The SAIL grant in 2023 is used to ensure participation to the Seminars for international speakers and workshop facilitators, whose expertise we find inspiring in reflecting on sector development.

TUTTI MATTI PER COLORNO ‘23, XVI ed. - international contemporary circus festival

EUROPA, EUROPA - 2 workshops dedicated to European funding programs for culture and arts

Friday 1st and 8th September – from 3 pm to 6 pm

@ Aranciaia, Piazzale Vittorio Veneto 22 - Colorno (PR)

more info www.tuttimattipercolorno.it

with Bruno Costa – Bùssola (PT) on the 1/09 - Fanny Bouquerel – University Paris 8 (ITA/FR) on the 8/09

Thanks to the support of CIRCOSTRADA NETWORK, in the frame of SAIL, a programme dedicated to members of the international network who wish to implement advocacy - lobby actions to foster the contemporary circus sector reputation in their territories, the international circus festival Tutti Matti per Colorno 2023 last September held 2 special workshops dedicated to European funding and grants opportunities for culture and arts, with 2 different focus and targets: one will address Creative Europe grants and other public calls for international artistic cooperation and mobility; one will address larger scale programmes leaded by Regions. These 2 open workshops are dedicated to artists and professionals of the arts sector as well as to public officers of local administrations who are working on culture in their institutions.

Together Project!

A Press and PR event with a focus on Together! collaboration will be organised in Hungary, mid- September 2023 to raise attention on contemporary circus and outdoor art while showing the remarkable work of Inspiral Circus Center and their partners.

Together! is a series of artistic interactions using the language of circus both in live and through digital platforms. 10 site-specific live performances are happening in two European Capitals of Culture:

Veszprém in Hungary, 16-23th September 2023

Elefsina in Greece, 13-21st June 2023

Partners of Inspirál:Kiev Circus Academy (Ukraine), Monokyklo (Greece), Culture En Mouvements (France)
https://youtu.be/Atzf_repn4s

'Circus - a safe(r) space for danger'

Throughout their careers, circus practitioners transition from one role to another. They navigate both informal and formal scenarios, taking up positions as educators, artists, or organisers; creating or performing, both on stage and behind the scenes. Ensuring safety in these transitions is crucial. How can we provide a safe environment and take care of ourselves and others? Over the course of three days, 146 participants were invited to explore this crucial question during the conference 'Circus - a safe(r) space for danger' (10-12 April, Belgium), exploring the importance of technical, psychosocial, and physical safety for circus professionals and practitioners.
The conference featured 2 keynote speakers, 3 panel discussions, 1 poster gallery walk, and 12 workshops.
The SAIL support was used to invite expert in the field to deliver workshops.
Afterwards the event’s website was transformed into a platform gathering all the content generated before, during, and after the conference with articles written by Around About Circus on the conference. With many thanks to the international networks Circostrada, FEDEC, EYCO and Caravan Circus Network for their collaboration.