Labs have made a comeback as part of circusnext’s support program. Pre-selected authors are invited to take part in 10 days of collective research on their projects at one of circusnext Platform members venues, under the guidance of an experienced artist.

Key numbers

Over the past 2 years: 12 Labs in 8 countries, 88 participants including 51 women (58%) and 37 men (42%), 59 projects supported.

In 2023, the Labs took place from August to November and brought together 46 artists from 29 projects at Cirkorama (Zagreb, Croatia), Sarabanda (Genoa, Italy), Subtopia (Stockholm, Sweden), La Grainerie (Toulouse, France), l’Espace Périphérique (Paris, France) and UP – Circus & Performing Arts (Brussels, Belgium).

Mentors

The mentors play a key role in the organization of the Labs: the work program is developed by the mentor according to his or her fields of expertise and the location chosen for the Lab. Therefore, even if they are designed with a common philosophy, each Lab is unique.

11 personalities from the performing arts have been mentors for a circusnext Lab since last year: Darragh McLoughlin (artist), Kitt Johnson (dancer & artistic director), Claudio Stellato (artist), Fatou Traoré (choreographer & director), Morgan Cosquer (artist), Marion Guyez (artist & researcher), Delphine Lanson (actress & artistic director), Albin Warette (actor & director), Gael Santisteva (artist), Marta Tkatchuk (artist) & Jérôme Dupin (actor & director).

The Labs will return next year for the artists pre-selected circusnext 2025.