Circus Smirkus executive and artistic director Rachel Schiffer told Seven Days on Wednesday that the organization has surpassed the $400,000 goal it set last fall for its “crisis fundraising” campaign, allowing it to avoid bankruptcy and continue operations — though it will do so without its traditional Big Top Tour this summer.
The 39-year-old Greensboro nonprofit runs summer camps, sends circus artists into schools for teaching residencies and operates what is believed to be the only tented, traveling youth circus in the country. Each summer about 30 “troupers,” selected by audition for the Big Top Tour, rehearse in Greensboro for three weeks before caravanning around New England to perform for the next seven weeks. Performers in 2025 ranged from 12 to 18 years old.
Circus administrators will pause the Big Top program altogether this year or choose one of two greatly scaled-down models — both of which involve pitching the tent in one place and leaving it there. The program will likely be shortened to eight weeks. Administrators expect to notify Smirkus families of their decision later this month and make the news public in February.
A rigging accident during last summer’s Big Top Tour pushed the organization to the brink of bankruptcy and has prompted circus officials to reevaluate programming and protocols. An 18-year-old aerialist fell from the top of aerial silks during a performance in Wrentham, Mass., in July. He was not paralyzed, Schiffer said, adding: “My understanding is that he’s doing well.”
While Circus Smirkus has not been sued or fined because of the accident, it canceled 11 shows in its wake. Lost ticket revenue, coupled with increased operating costs and high tariffs levied on an imported tent, created a funding gap and “a moment of real uncertainly around the future of Smirkus,” Schiffer and then-board president Kate Hayes wrote last fall in their appeal for support.
The campaign, launched on September 16, was wrapped into the organization’s annual year-end appeal and brought in $546,000.
“The Smirkus community is truly like no other,” Schiffer wrote in an email to supporters this week. “Your collective support has carried us through an incredibly challenging moment and allowed us to close the year on solid ground.”
“Just as important,” Schiffer continued, “this moment has reinforced our responsibility to do things differently going forward.” That work includes evaluating programming, operations, financial stewardship, community engagement and safety, she wrote.
An independent task force will begin meeting next week to review Circus Smirkus’ rigging practices, Schiffer told Seven Days. The four industry experts will produce two rigging manuals, one to outline procedures for the camp and one for the Big Top program to ensure the safety of aerialists. “And education around that,” Schiffer said, “will be consistent and across the board.” She declined to name the exact cause of the July accident.
Summer camps, which typically serve about 400 children — and another 70 children and adults for family-and-friends weekends — will go on virtually unchanged this year. Registration opened in November, and sessions are starting to fill, Schiffer said. Circus artists typically visit around 15 schools for teaching residencies each year, a program Schiffer and board members would like to grow.
The Big Top Tour will see the biggest changes. It has lost money in each of the past five years, Schiffer said, citing as factors rising costs, shifts in audience ticket-buying habits, weather and the uncertainties presented on the road.
The first model under consideration for this summer plants the Big Top at Circus Smirkus’ Greensboro headquarters — with a possibility of performers traveling around Vermont for satellite shows. The second model involves an unnamed partner organization, which would host Circus Smirkus for weekend shows. Performers would then return to Greensboro for training and workshops the rest of the week.
Schiffer calls this “a reimagining year.”
“Whatever this coming year is, we plan to build on it in a meaningful way,” she said. In recent years, the Big Top Tour has included between 60 and 70 performances at 14 or 15 different sites around New England. “I don’t foresee getting back to that level,” Schiffer said. “I don’t know if that’s the best model moving forward, but I would like to hope that we’re able to reach outside of Vermont’s borders, to share Vermont with the rest of New England.”
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!