We work with individuals and communities and foster collaborations between community participants and professional artists.
Our training and creative programs celebrate the physical and imaginative potential of the human body and nurture self-awareness and self-esteem.
Women’s Circus is a feminist organisation dedicated to individual well-being of women and connectedness within and across their communities.
As a feminist organisation, we position empathy as one of the most powerful forces for social change. Imagination allows us to offer a vision of what this change might be.
Taking risks – both physical and creative – in a safe and supportive space can expand an individual’s and a community’s belief in what is possible.
We strive to create inclusive projects so that those who face barriers – of gender, age, experience, access, cultural background, mental health, sexual identity – have the opportunity to participate in training, development and creative opportunities.
In our training programs, projects, productions and company operations, we strive for excellence in both what we provide and how we provide it. We are dedicated to finding new ways that are at once poetic and political, to tell stories, explore themes, raise issues, share knowledge and work together.
Women’s Circus has provided training and creative opportunities for community participants and women artists since 1991 when it was founded to work with women who were the survivors of violence or abuse as a project of the Footscray Community Arts Centre. Twenty-five years later, Women’s Circus is still proudly based in Melbourne’s vibrant West and now works with women of all ages, experience levels and cultural backgrounds as well as with our local communities. We honour the important legacy of our organisation and the work, commitment and achievements of all those women who have gone before us. We today ‘stand on the shoulders of giants!’
Women’s Circus has featured in numerous festivals including The Melbourne Fringe Festival, Big West Festival, Midsumma, Moomba, Melbourne Comedy Festival @ the Famous Spiegel Tent, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Pride March, Mooney Valley and Laverton Festivals.
Women’s Circus has spoken about our work at various forums, conferences and events such as Feminist Futures Conference, Reconnexion’s Annual National Anxiety and Depression Conference, Kensington Women’s Group International Women’s Day Celebration, Preventing Violence Against Women community conference, UNESCO conference, International Women’s Day.