Description
The project aims to enhance cultural dialogue, strengthen European identity and promote tolerance through strong cultural experience. Thanks to this project the Cirk-UFF festival will focus in its 2015 volume on Nordic circus. The Cirk-UFF is the international festival of current circus art which was established in 2011. Since then, it has become one of the important cultural events of the Trutnov region and the whole Czech Republic and from its beginnings, the Cirk-UFF has had a strong social dimension and its impact is very tangible. The circus is the ideal choice to attract diverse audience including professionals, children and locals. The main programme of the Czech-Norwegian section of the festival and the project itself consists of two activities. One of the main events of the festival will be a joint performance Cometa 45 615, the result of the cooperation between the Czech and Norwegian artistic teams (4-day directory workshop/laboratory for artists led by the directors of both companies from Norway (Circus Xanti) and the Czech Republic (Cirk La Putyka). The second part of the programme is a performance Pluto Crazy performed by the project partner Circus Xanti. This performance will be presented twice in the main time of the festival. The project also supported additional programme of the Nordic section of the festival – seminar for professionals and three workshops for children. The cooperation between the partners in the future is most likely since both share similar artistic approach and humor.
Summary of project results
The project Cirk-UFF 2015 was aimed at the strengthening European cultural identity, cultural dialogue and bilateral relations with Norway through the international festival of current circus with focus on Nordic circus in 2015. The festival is one of the most important cultural events of the Trutnov region and the whole Czech Republic. It took place for the fifth time in Trutnov in June 2015. The outputs of the project were: 1 creative workshop from which the premiere of the performace Cometa 45615 originated from in Czech-Norwegian cooperation, performance Pluto Crazy with Norwegian partner (Cirkus Xanti). Directing workshop and three workshops for children were also realized. The most valuable result of the project in terms of artistic collaboration was the opportunity to spend intense days at a creative workshop. All performances were assessed very positively by the audience and the artists themselves. Thanks to this project it was possible to enrich the festival program with Norwegian partner and to extend the duration of the festival up to six days instead for the usuall three days.
Summary of bilateral results
Within the project the final beneficiary (Community Centre of Trutnov region for culture and leisure - UFFO) and its Norwegian partner (Circus Xanti) were fully involved in the implementation of the planned activities. Together they created the grant application and following the approval they worked intensively on the fulfillment of individual project activities. Circus Xanti prepared and presented the performance Crazy Pluto, that took place during the festival Cirk-UFF in Trutnov in June 2015. Partner was also actively involved in implementation of the project activities that were not only related to the implementation of the performance of his ensemble. The director Sverre Waage (Cirkus Xanti) participated in workshops for artists and in preparation of the perfomance Cometa 45615 as a result of the creative workshop. Joint cooperation between the two organizations is planned in the future in the form of open discussions about circus arts in the Czech and Scandinavian environment. There is also possibility of another joint project or performance at the next festival. Thanks to cooperation with Norwegian partner there has been a transfer of artistic experiences - exchange of experience with the new circus genre in the Czech Republic and Norway defining the current situation of this genre in the Czech Republic and Norway in the context of global developments. The transfer of Czech and Norwegian knowledge from a management perspective was also beneficial and both sides gained the new experiences. During the project implementation there were no risks associated with the partnership.