Circus Smirkus, Vermont’s own award-winning international youth circus, will be awarded a Community Impact Award by Sabrina Motley, Smithsonian Folklife Festival Director, at the 2nd Annual Celebration of Circus, held at the Big Apple Circus Big Top Tent, next to Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Community Impact Award is given annually to a circus artist or organization that has succeeded in harnessing and demonstrating the power of the circus arts for community engagement and social good, and in bringing diverse audiences together through quality programming.
“So many of our Smirkos have gone onto professional careers in the industry as artists, coaches, producers, program directors, marketers, and in technical and production roles. I think this award is in many ways an honoring of all the impact they have made on the circus community. By working hard to realize their dreams they have modeled Smirkus Spirit, helping to grow the skills, the traditions and the culture that we in the circus world value so much.”
-Ed LeClair, Executive Director
"My goal was to recreate the adventures of a small traveling tent show that would play in rural villages overlooked by the big shows. I ran off to join such tent shows as a teenager, and I wanted to give American kids a taste of the unconventional lifestyle. It changes lives.
There is still magic, mystery, mud, mayhem, and big dreams in the world of traditional circus. What can be better than that?"
-Rob Mermin, Founder
Circus Smirkus, a 501(c)3 nonprofit has promoted the skills, culture and traditions of the traveling circus, inspiring youth to engage in life-changing adventures in the circus arts since 1987.
Our flagship program, the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour, is a traveling circus starring performers aged 10-18, and the only American youth circus to tour under its own Big Top: an 780-seat, one-ring European style tent. Full of exuberant talent and dazzling spectacle, with acrobatics, wire-walking, juggling, trapeze, clowning, original live music and an array of brilliant costumes, our 7-week, 70-show odyssey visits 16 towns throughout New England and upstate New York. In addition to the Big Top Tour, our programs include Smirkus School Residencies and Smirkus Summer Camp, America’s only residential circus arts training conducted in a traditional summer camp setting.