Letter from Lookup Theatre

RE: Grey Bruce County Youth Circus 2013 – Final Report

We experienced an even better response in this, our third year, as the community is becoming familiar with us. We are especially proud about 10 youth returning: 5 from our first year and 5 from our second year. We have a waiting list for the Grey-Bruce County Circus 2014.

We had 41 participants in total (up from 16 in 2012 and 14 in 2011). All from Owen Sound, all skill levels and interests, 8-19 years of age, including 20 youth from the Saugeen First Nation reserve. The Saugeen First Nation workshops were again in a big hit. We added swinging trapeze this year, which they really  loved, and the community was asked to come to one of the workshops with a pretty good turnout. From June through to the end of October, the youth received over 100 hours of training by professionals in the areas of: aerial acrobatics, partner and group balancing, juggling, poi spinning, hula hooping, drama, clown, voice, drumming, set design, costume design, choreography and sound design.

This program has organically grown into a summer job opportunity for local teenagers. We had 2 teens as instructors for off-site camps and 2 others as unior instructors for the Grey-Bruce County Circus funded through the Canada Summer Jobs program.

This year we added:

A touring type of show experience. The youth presented the show and then returned to rehearsals to fine-tune it.

Homework. The youth researched insects of Grey Bruce County. This became excellent fodder for creating the show. The youth had a great sense of really creating the show from scratch using their research and ideas: they really owned the show.

A make-up workshop

Fall programming

Canada Day show and workshop on July 1st

100th Anniversary show for The Roxy Owen Sound Little Theatre

Swinging trapeze, aerial ladder, aerial rope, double hammock

Stilting and walk-about characters, including human statues

We came in under budget at $24,250. (estimate was $30,000). The City of Owen Sound donated the workshop and rehearsal space, Kelso Beach Park, a value of $2000. We did not get Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) funding but were more successful with other grantors and were able to complete the program. Due to lack of CCA funding we were only able to provide 3-hour rehearsals instead of the proposed 4-hour.

The show was performed at 4 different events this year for a total of 11 performances and a total audience of 2,500 people.

• Owen Sound Canada Day, July 1 – 2 shows and parade
• Owen Sound Buskerville, August 10 – 2 shows
• Owen Sound Summerfolkd Festival, August 17 & 18 – 2 shows, 2 walk-abouts, parade
• Roxy Theatre, Owen Sound, October 19 – 1 sold-out show

A Success Story: One of our troupe members, who has been in the program for 2 years, had a really hard time in grade 9. She was the victim of bullying on the internet and at school. She began to cut herself mid-year and was diagnosed with depression. By the spring, she found herself in the hospital as she tried to commit suicide. When we started the program she told us she was under too much stress to return. Her mom brought her to the first trying to encourage her to participate. All the returning participants asked her why she wasn’t returning and let her know how loved she was and how successful she had gotten with only 2 years of circus. By the middle of the workshop she took me aside and asked if she could join again. I had introduced  a new discipline this year – aerial rope. She did not cut herself even once after starting the program and is described by her father as a totally different person than in the spring. She is now back in high school with a new-found confidence. This participant also became a junior instructor this year and had part-time employment with Lookup Theatre.

Thank you so much for your generosity.

Sincerely,
Angola Murdoch
Founder & Artistic Director
Lookup Theatre