When we think of our yearly highlights it is hard to pick just a few because so much is happening in the company! From our constantly evolving community programme to our Big Top touring production SABOTAGE, from an extensive programme of creative development towards our next new production BAMBOO, to regular circus skills classes and events - it has been an exceptionally busy year! We love what we do, and we do it with purpose.
We started 2023 by throwing our building open to local residents with our winter Warm Space programme. Offering creative workshops, a hot-desking space, a place to come together and share food and conversation, our community Warm Space created a place to build connections and conversations across the different communities of our local Square Mile, our Milltir Sgwar.
In February we presented our first public performance event of the year – Park Light. Taking over Brewery Park in Adamsdown local residents came together to celebrate our community with an evening of circus, fire sculptures, live music, and light installations.
The Circus Village in March and April brought the circus sector together in a six-week creative programme of workshops, talks, creative residencies and culminated in a Festival to celebrate and profile some of the work developed throughout The Circus Village. We were proud to present The Wing Scuffle Spectacular by The Revel Puck Circus, Bitchcraft by Kitsch & Sync Collective, The Big Erection by Circus Purposeless, Smile by Leyton John and Turk (ish) by Poppy Plowman to the people of Swansea.
The Circus Village Festival also saw the opening performances of SABOTAGE in Swansea before the production left to tour England, France and Belgium, finishing its summer season in Prague. SABOTAGE performed at the prestigious festivals; Les Nuits de Fourvière, Zomer van Antwerpen and Letní Letná.
In the meantime, our community programme, held our first Play Action Group meeting in May. The group exists to bring local community and arts organisations together to plan and deliver creative programmes for the people of Adamsdown, Splott and Tremorfa, it led to the first joint creative marketing campaign to promote all the activities open to the people of East Cardiff over summer of 2023.
Our summer creative community programme fed into an extraordinary day of community celebration, Gwledd Parc Feast, in Anderson Fields at the end of the school summer holidays. Gwledd Parc Feast brought over 3000 local people together to share our common space and celebrate the extraordinary cultural richness and diversity of our community – and, as with any feast, to share food and connection.
Woven throughout the thread of the year we have been developing our new production, BAMBOO, using only bamboo and the extraordinary skills of circus performers. This new outdoor production will premiere in 2024 and we can’t wait to share it with you.
This is only the smallest taste of 2023 for NoFit State. To find out more, please click below to see our timeline graphic of the year’s Highlights – and we hope you can join us again as we travel through 2024!
View the 2023 Highlights graphic:
