The Galway Circus Project (old web site): What the press says...

The Galway Circus Project is delighted to announce its opening for public sessions every Tuesday in the Westside Community Centre between 4 and 6 pm. The sessions will include juggling, basic acrobatics, clowning and all the other wicked stuff that you see in Circuses. Now we can offer 20 places for young people between 8 and 14. The 2 hour sessions will cost 5 ¤. Please reserve your tickets by tel. Reservations on 586939. From the 11 October we will also offer Capoeira (a mixture of rhythm, acrobatics, dance and martial arts) for young people between 7-12 every Saturday between 3-4 in the Creaven house. Registration again on 586939. And every Thursday morning the big peole with circus skills meet to train and prepare the sessions ( if you already have skills, you are very welcome to come along and share)

Now who are we? Well, we are a group of people from Galway, who share an interest in circus skills. We met for the last year on a weekly basis to prepare the project. VEC provided funding to enable us to insure and start it. We will work towards a Circus Show, maybe in a real circus tent in June. The Circus Project will also be available to provide workshops for schools and community groups, festivals or corporate events. For more information please call Karin (Pipa) on 586939 Those courses will be individually tailored to the groups needs and will include the making of the juggling material, if necessary. The Galway Circus Projects works with the Refugee Support Group, the Travellor Surpport Group and several Youth Organisations in Galway. It aims to create a forum for children of all different backgrounds and YOOOOUUUU could be part of it as well. Karin (Pipa ), Mariosa, Nick, Abbey, Jasmin,, Gavin, Lisa, Niamh, Jana

Sentinal - Oct 2003

By Judy Murphy

A special course, which begins in the Westside this evening, Tuesday, is offering 12 young people, aged between six and 16 a chance to learn circus skills including juggling, basic acrobats and clowning. The course is being run by the Galway Circus Project, a group of people who share an interest in circus skills and it is being supported by Galway VEC.

The Circus Projects has already established links with the Refugee Support Group, the Traveller Support Group and several youth organisations in Galway, explains Karin Wimmer of the organisation. Ms Wimmer, who is originally from Germany, is better known locally as Pippa the Clown and, since moving here several year ago, has performed for hundreds of birthdays as well as for festivals and other events. �Since I�ve come to Galway I wanted to do a circus project for young people,� explains Ms Wimmer who is also a trained occupational therapist.

�Kids in Ireland don�t have enough PE,� she insists. �I was performing at a birthday party recently and asked the kids to do a forward tumble. Thirty per cent of them didn�t know how to do it. Any child over four should be able to do that, but PE is really neglected here."

Clowning, juggling and acrobatics offer kids an outlet for physical energy and and are an excellent method of preventing aggression in young people, she adds.

As an occupational therapist, Ms Wimmer knows how to assess children�s individual skills and place them in an environment which can best develop those talents. Previously she worked in Germany with a Munich based circus which trained children from different areas, many of them from disadvantaged backgrounds, including children whose first language was not German.

A circus allows children to get beyond the disadvantage of language barriers because circus has a language of its ow n, she explains.

In Galway, the group hopes to bring together children of all social backgrounds. It is aiming at rich and poor, foreign and local, resident and travellers between the age of 6 and 16. The Children�s Circus Project will take on 20 students initially, and the group will be broken into classes of 10 people each.

Courses will be individually tailored to the groups needs and will include the making of the juggling material, if necessary.There will be a weekly charge of �5 per two hour session to pay for the tutors, says Ms Wimmer, explaining that Galway VEC provided funding for insurance and start up costs.

�I hate that there has to be a charge, but the tutors have to be paid,� she adds, explaining that the long term goal is to get private sponsors to assist those who may not be able to afford the fee.

Ms Wimmer has connections with several established circuses and is hopeful that, at the end of the course, participants will be able to exhibit their skills in a real circus tent, because as she says simply, �a tent is a magic place�.

The group will have its first meeting on today, Tuesday the 2nd September at 4.00pm. Reservations are at 586939. The Circus Project will also be available to provide workshops for schools and community groups, festivals or corporate events.

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