<< Background >>Social circus is an innovative educational tool in itself, but in order to develop and improve the quality of youth and social circus pedagogy, a need for a social circus trainers program arose in the early 2010’s. Thus, Circus Trans Formation in Action (CTF in Action, later CTF) was developed as a training program for social circus trainers. It is 240 hours of training which takes place over 4 modules at 4 different international youth circuses, connecting circus trainers from across the world. Youth and social circus trainers work mainly with youth, who often have fewer possibilities and opportunities in their lives. This links the training program directly with the fields of social work and youth work in general. The main idea of this project at hand is to develop and enhance the training program and disseminate the knowledge gained during previous training programs to aforementioned fields. It also takes into account recent experiences and research findings in all of the three fields and joins them together in our quest for professional development. The CTF training is based on our curriculum, “Guidebook for Social Circus Trainers”, which is the outcome of a 5-year European research carried out by 2 universities, 8 Caravan members and the Caravan office. Each session is focused on specific Teaching/Learning Units (TLU) of the Guidebook. The first session deals with «Social context» (TLU A). The second session deals with «Act of teaching» (TLU B), the 3rd session with «Management / Steering of teaching» (TLU C) and the 4th session deals with «Foundations» (TLU D) and «Circus Techniques & Creativity» (TLU E). CTF is one of the flagship programs of Caravan network. Caravan is an international youth and social circus network of 22 circus schools from across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, that advocates for the positive impact of youth and social circus. The network was established in 2008 by 6 European circus schools, including Sorin Sirkus, with a common goal to use youth and social circus as an educational tool and to dedicate this work to groups from disadvantaged backgrounds with specific needs. Caravan is a non-profit organisation that is committed to developing the sector and empowering its members. The members are closely connected, and these links have been created through our projects: Youth festivals and exchanges, training for trainer programmes, capacity buildings, volunteer exchanges, production of research, seminars and gathering of resources. The network continuously evaluates and improves the program in order to maintain the legitimacy of the program. CTF has now been running for 5 cycles as the first one started in 2015. The first evaluation was done in 2018 (Extending CTF)andow it is time to undertake a second evaluation. This project addresses the new challenges and needs to refine the CTF training, which have arisen during the last 5 CTF cycles and in the current state of the world. This evaluation would also enable the consortium to build on other projects’ results run through the framework of Caravan.During the last 6 years, the CTF training program has developed and deepened the knowledge of social work and youth development using circus as a carrier. By evaluating the program and identifying the results and good practices, we aim to disseminate the knowledge to other relevant fields and organise roundtable meetings to learn from each other. In order for this to happen, we have extended our network to cover many organisations and NGOs from the social and youth work sectors.<< Objectives >>THE MAIN OBJECTIVES are to develop and enhance the training program by strengthening the network with partners from social work and youth work, disseminate the knowledge gained in previous training programs and enable active communication between the fields of circus art, social work and youth work. The CTF Advanced project takes into account recent experiences and findings in all of the three fields and joins them together in our quest for professional development.This is done by organising a series of workshops, seminars and roundtable meetings between youth circuses, social circus trainers, social work organisations and institutions as well as youth work organisations (listed in the associated partners section). These meetings are organised during the LTAs in each country, but as well nationally in between the meetings so that the outcomes of the discussions in every country can be shared by all of the partners at the LTAs.The following organisations and associations have agreed to collaborate with us in CTF Advanced and to be a part of our extended network of associates working towards the same goal of sharing experiences, methodology, pedagogical solutions, and special needs with different target groups: Sopimusvuori ry – social rehabilitation center (Finland), Tampereen Lastenklinikan Tuki ry – Children’s Clinic Support Association (Finland), Beztíže – a youth centre working with young people from disadvantaged groups (Czech Republic), Association of families with children with visual impairment (Czech Republic), Galway Autism Partnership (GAP) – a family/community local charity for autism spectrum disorder (Ireland), Arts Alive Galway – a community-based arts programme (Ireland), Youth Work Ireland – the largest youth organisation in Ireland, Foróige – the leading youth organisation in Ireland which has been working with young people since 1952 and Dynamo International – an NGO and a youth service that fights, all over the world, for the defence of the fundamental rights of people in a situation of social exclusion. Moreover, with the help of this network we aim to keep improving/strengthening the framework of competences for social circus trainers and the quality and legitimacy of their work, thus improving their recognition and employability. This helps the social circus trainers, who work with young people with fewer opportunities or special needs and marginalized people, by drawing their attention on the benefits of youth and social circus for their end-users. Sub- objectives: OBJ 1: Evaluate the content and impacts of Circus Trans Formation in Action training for social circus trainers. OBJ 2: Update and enhance CTF guidebook and the training in a reaction to the changing world: covid-19, sustainable pedagogy, developments in distance learning, forced migration, work with disabilities etc. OBJ 3: Plan a follow-up strategy and peer network for CTF trainers which ensures enhanced communication during and after CTF trainings. The trainers are given possibilities to develop their pedagogical insights, and acquire a peer network of professional colleagues.<< Implementation >>Two transnational meetings and five Learning, Teaching, and Training Activities (later LTA) will be held in order to advance the project, while progress on the Intellectual Outputs (later IO) will also happen in between the meetings. One of the LTA’s is online. In addition to LTA’s, several online follow-up meetings will be organised to ensure the advancement of the IO’s.IO1: Creating the extended network of associates in each country and organising a series of roundtable meetings and seminars both nationally and internationally. Evaluating the content and impacts of CTF for social circus trainers. 12 months, 1 Mar 2022 to 31 Dec 2022. - Mar 2022. Preparation meeting online with partners. - May 2022 Kick off meeting (3 days): pedagogical steering group & Caravan representatives meet (total 15 persons). Roundtable seminar with the extended network of associates in Finland and discussion over the project methodology, distribution of roles and tasks, timetable, budget tweaks and overall management of the project as well as the challenges and demands of development concerning the training in a multicultural setting. The group will also make suggestions on how to incorporate distance learning methods in the training. - Follow up meeting online - June 2022 LTA 1 (2 days): pedagogical steering group meet in person. Roundtable seminar with the Czech network of associates. Coordination meeting: take stock of the evaluation activities and data collected + design analysis methodology further + discuss project management aspects (finance, admin, reporting). - Follow up meeting online - Oct 2022 LTA 2 (2 days): pedagogical steering group meet in person. Roundtable seminar with the Swedish network of associates. - Follow up meeting online and preparing for the IO2. IO2: Updating the CTF Guidebook: data analysis and revision of the guidebook (collected data but also outputs from other projects). 12 months, 1 Mar 2023 to 31 Feb 2024. - Mar 2023 LTA 3 (5 days): CTF trainers and pedagogical steering group meet. A bigger roundtable meeting with the Irish network of associates, discussion on the techniques of dissemination and sharing experiences on youth work.- Discussions on sustainable pedagogy, follow-up and peer network strategy with the network of associates- Revision of the CTF Guidebook, revision of training modules / possible creation of new modules - External evaluation of the revised guidebook (3 external evaluators picked by the leading team and hired as consultant to deliver feedbacks) & final edits for Guidebook and training layout. - Follow up online meeting - May 2023 LTA 4 (2 days): pedagogical steering group ONLINE meet. Meeting the entire international network of associates and sharing knowledge on the development of the project and future plans. Coordination: Feedbacks/discussion/evaluation revised Guidebook + take stock of the implementation so far, project management, reporting and further detail next steps.- Follow up online meeting in between. - Aug 2023 LTA 5 (2 days): pedagogical steering group meet. 2 days in person meeting. - Follow up online meeting in between. - Jan 2024 Conclusion meeting: Finnish network of associates, pedagogical steering group & Caravan representatives. Conclusion meeting and dissemination: next to a festival/event, presentation of the revised guidebook and training, external communication. IO 3: follow-up strategy and peer network concept planning. 4 months, 1 Mar 2024 to 30 June 2024.- from the data collected at the LTA 3, writing a concept paper about follow-up and peer network strategy - Final online coordination meeting focused on project management and reporting<< Results >>Short term outcomes: - An international network of associates from the fields of social work and youth work, meeting regularly online and nationally in person, sharing experiences and knowledge on good practises and methodology in their work- An evaluation report - An updated version of CTF Guidebook with enhanced and polished pedagogical insights - An updated version of CTF training modules, including possibly new module(s) on subjects that arise during the project - A follow-up strategy for former CTF participants (to stay in touch, share insights, get access to revised data/pedagogical materials,...) and possibly an exchange system for CTF trainers and refresher activitiesLong term outcomes: - Increased network of relevant fields of expertise (social work, youth work) and practical knowledge in how to maintain such a network- Increased pedagogical competences for youth and social circus trainers thus improving the quality of their work and the impact on participants - Increased peer to peer exchanges between youth and social circus trainers - Increased employability for the social circus trainers - Increased well-being effects from social circus activities with the end-users (young people usually with fewer opportunities, with special needs, and marginalized people)

‘Wires Crossed – Mind Your Balance’ is the 3rd phase in the development of an innovative educational programme designed to promote positive physical and mental well-being and social inclusion through the art of funambulism (tightwire walking with a balancing pole). This inclusive programme aims to empower young people from all walks of life to improve their wellbeing; support them to build social, personal and life skills; increase empathy for themselves and others; become active members of society; feel more connected to their peers both locally and across Europe; and promote inter-cultural dialogue, tolerance and diversity.‘Wires Crossed – Mind Your Balance’ is a training-for-trainers programme in using funambulism to reach, engage and support young people with mental health difficulties. The project came from the need to address the youth mental health crisis across Europe by providing an inclusive, safe and engaging outlet for young people to take part in physical and creative activities that enhance their wellbeing. Research shows that taking part in physical activities has psychological benefits for young people by improving their control over symptoms of anxiety and depression (World Health Organization report “Preventing suicide: A global imperative (2014) Circus is a form of physical activity provided in a non-competitive and supportive setting, making it an ideal vehicle to reach vulnerable youth. Balancing activities such as tightwire can be used as powerful mindfulness tools to develop focus, courage and confidence, and teach us how to take back control of our body and mind. The project aims to:•address the need to increase the number of youth educators equipped to work with vulnerable young people•develop skills and competences of youth circus educators in the field of youth mental health•promote funambulism and circus arts as innovative educational tools to support the personal and social development of vulnerable young people•develop high-quality methodologies for using funambulism as a way to support and increase wellbeing in young people, and for these to be widely-used across the European youth and social circus sector and beyond There participants groups for the project will be:- 12 Youth Circus Educators (3 each from Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Romania) who will take part in a Training for Trainers programme in teaching funambulism within the context of youth mental health. This will include 4 training activities (1 in each country) working with experts in funambulism, pedagogy and mental health, and the development and delivery of funambulism and wellbeing workshops for local young people.- 24 young people (12 from Ireland and 12 from Romania) who will take part in the funamulism and wellbeing workshops. These young people will come through local organisations that support young people experiencing mental health difficulties. - Non-circus based youth workers from the local organisations who have an interest in how creative activities can be used to work with vulnerable youth. They will work with the partners and be invovled in the workshops as an introduction to this conceptThe project will provide long-term positive impacts on each of the participant groups, the project partners and the European Youth and Social Circus sector:YOUTH PARTICIPANTS will be offered new ways of improving their physical and mental health and wellbeing in an informal and creative setting, which will support their personal and social developmentYOUTH CIRCUS EDUCATORS will develop high-quality skills and competences (particularly in working with vulnerable young people) which will increase their employability YOUTH CIRCUS ORGANISATIONS will improve their youth work through the sharing of best practice, knowledge and innovative ideas, and develop their international and cross-sectoral co-operationTHE EUROPEAN YOUTH CIRCUS SECTOR will receive a well developed and tested methodology for funambulism training and how to deliver this in the context of youth mental health. They will benefit from trained and experienced teachers with international experience.‘Wires Crossed – Mind Your Balance’ is the 3rd phase of bigger international funambulism project called ‘Wires Crossed,’ which is being produced by Galway Community Circus and their partners as one of the flagship projects of the European Capital of Culture Galway 2020 (ECOC).

Wires Crossed - Level 2 was the second step of an innovative education programme to promote positive physical and mental well-being, safe risk-taking, self-control and social inclusion among young people through the art of funambulism (tightwire walking with a balancing pole). The project developed competences for youth circus educators and promoted high-quality youth work that is inclusive and reaches young people with fewer opportunities. This project was a continuation of cooperation leading to a large-scale European project led by Galway Community Circus and their partners École de Cirque de Bruxelles and CABUWAZI in 2017-2021 as part of the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture programme. The objectives of the project were to develop skills and competences of youth circus educators; help youth circus organisations increase their capacity; improve health and wellbeing and social, personal and life skills of young people; develop and share effective methods in reaching out to marginalized youth; promote social inclusion, solidarity and intercultural dialogue; help young people with fewer opportunities become more engaged and involved in society; help young refugees become more integrated in their local community and connected to young people in other parts of Europe; and to make funambulism a widely used innovative educational method in youth and social circus sector and beyond. The project was delivered through non-formal education in a youth work setting using the creative and physical methods of youth circus education based on active volunteer participation. It included three Transnational Project Meetings and four staff training events for youth circus trainers. The project set out to develop high-quality skills and competences for twelve youth circus trainers from Belgium, Germany and Ireland. This was done by providing a twelve-month training programme for tutor teams from the partner organisations. During this twelve-month period the youth circus trainers took part in three short-term staff training events in Galway, Berlin and Brussels. The training focused on technical competences in funambulism and pedagogic competences for educators, rigging and safety as well as skills to work with diverse target groups. The Wires Crossed - Level 2 project educated alumni of 'Wires Crossed - A Balancing Act for Europe Level 1' Strategic Partnership organised in 2017/18 in further pedagogical and technical funambulism skills at a more advanced level. The funambulism training used the methodology developed by the partners and an expert team during the first Wires Crossed Erasmus+ project. The LTT activities successfully tested and evaluated the methodology, allowing for improvements, revisions and further development for its use in other future funambulism pedagogy projects in Europe. The final methodology will now be disseminated to other European countries in the next phase of the wider Wires Crossed project. The funambulism training during the LTT activities was facilitated by a funambulism Expert Team from the European Centre of Funambulism, made up of funambule master Denis Josselin, funambulism technical and pedagogical expert Bruno Frenette and co-ordinated by Vincent Wauters. Denis and Bruno each led 2 LTT activities in this project. The project themes of 'mental health & wellbeing', 'social inclusion', 'engagement and participation of marginalised youth and young people with fewer opportunities' and 'innovative projects to support young people’s development' are highlighted in the EU Strategy for Youth Investing and Empowering Youth, EU 2020 – Youth on the move and the priorities of Erasmus+. The Wires Crossed project is the first of its kind in the word and the project results will be used to play a continual key role in building capacity and international and cross-sectoral cooperation for the growing youth circus sector in Ireland, Belgium, Germany and beyond. The results of the project will be shared widely through the International Youth and Social Circus Network CARAVAN and through European partnerships/organisations, such as the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture.The Wires Crossed activities to date will be showcased at a major funambulism event in Galway in August 2020 as part of the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. 400 participants from all strands of the project will be involved in a highwire crossing of the River Corrib and Claddagh Basin in Galway over a continual period of 2020 minutes. The event will provide a public display of solidarity, highlighting the importance of looking after mental health and wellbeing within our communities. Long-term benefits of the project include improvement in physical and mental wellbeing and social inclusion among young people, improved quality of youth circus education on offer across Europe, and Youth and Social Circus/education becoming a more widely recognized tool for social change.

Youth and social circus is a measure of intervention based on the combination of circus arts, sports and social-pedagogy. It targets the young but also various at-risk groups in order to support the empowerment and emancipation of individuals and assist with participants’ personal and social development by nurturing their self-esteem and trust in others, as well as by helping them to acquire social skills, express their creativity and realize their potential and become active citizens. In this approach, the primary goal is not to learn the circus arts, but rather to create social change because it helps individuals assume their place in a society. Various studies indicate that the socio-pedagogical and welfare impacts of social circus are undeniable. Due to these positive impacts, the surveys show that there is a growing need of formally educated youth and social circus professionals having not only knowledge in circus arts but also possessing a deep knowledge of pedagogy to work with the young and with people with fewer opportunities in the society.The project produces the first research based European full-degree curriculum of 180 ECTS in EQF level 6 of Youth and Social Circus Pedagogy with five national implementation plans to respond both to the shortage of the professionals and qualitative needs. After the project the programme begins at least in the partner organizations and it is expected to get adapted to other organizations and countries as well. It is possible for the students either to carry out the studies in one European country or construct the whole study programme by choosing the suitable modules from the European offer and that will be validated in each European country according to the Bologna declaration. The curriculum is free of charge and available to all Youth and Social Circus Schools, universities and NGO´s in social and education sector that would like to expand their activity to the youth and social circus instructor education. The programme includes a model for validation of prior formal, non formal and informal learning and a model for a personal study plan that supports both employability and mobility in Europe. This project bases on research and cooperation between four European universities, five social circus schools and European youth and social circus network Caravan. As the youth and social circus will also be part of official research based teacher education programmes in higher education institutions, the quality and the esteem of youth and social circus training is expected to rise significantly. This way the project improves and extends the offer of European high quality learning opportunities.The participants are social circus school trainers, pedagogical experts and social circus directors from 5 partner countries (Finland, Sweden, Ireland, France and Chezh republic), including the project partners: universities, youth and social circus schools and the international association «CARAVAN », a network in Brussels that gathers 22 youth and social circus schools, coming from 14 European countries and 1 Middle East country, Afganistan. The end-users, the young students of youth and social circus will also take part in planning, evaluation and developing the programme.As result of the project the future youth and social circus instructors, circus schools, various social and educational professionals will benefit from this project, enabling them to be equally educated in Europe as circus trainers, in order to work efficiently with the young and with different learners as well as to expand their employment potential around Europe. Due to the new European wide offer of youth and social circus pedagogy, the most benefitting target group are the young, notably those who are at the risk of marginalization, who will have new opportunities to join the Youth and Social Circus where the participants can develop various skills and potentials and maintain their physical and mental wellbeing in a learning environment that is professional, sportive, artistic, safe and fun. By transferring their new personal strengths and potentials gained at youth and social circus to other life contexts in education, employment and personal life, the young have better chances to join their societies as active citizens, that in turn will have a positive impact on the inclusion and harmonization of the population at local, regional, national and European levels.

ABCirk is a project of CIRQUEON, Galway Community Circus, Cirkus LeGrando and Cirkus in Beweging for young people aged 15 - 19 years to gain experience, knowledge and confidence to become assistants of circus tutors.There are four young people and two circus tutors from each organisation accompanied by three ABCirk alumni from the first round of ABCirk (2016-2018) participating on the project for the whole duration of two and half years between autumn 2019 and early 2022.The main objective of this project is to bring young people together and let them learn how to become a good junior leader in a youth circus organisation while working with their peers from other organisations and being supervised by their experienced circus tutors and older friends.They will attend four training activities - one in each organisation - to learn about class organisation, group dynamics, working with specific groups, safety, first aid, teaching methods of various circus disciplines, giving feedback and evaluation activities. There will be a practical session in the third training consisting of giving workshops to children and families during a youth circus festival in Brno in June 2021.We aim to have the learning process happening mostly through peer-to-peer learning.The whole process will be documented on video by participating young people and shared online on a video channel managed by participating young people themselves. These videos will be made for other youth circus members around the world to encourage them to learn more about circus teaching in an informal way. As they will be made by their peers they will be more accessible than written publications produced by professional circus school and universities.The online video channel will be accessible to anyone even after the project is finished. We believe that our participants will continue updating it for several more years and will engage more young circus members to contribute to it as well.Participation on this programme will bring more future cooperation among the participants themselves, the partner organisations and also other organisations from the Czech Republic, Belgium and Ireland as well as other European youth circuses connected in Caravan Youth and Social Circus Network and Educircation Network. Having an international experience in teenage years will make it much easier for our participants to cooperate on a European level in future on a professional and personal level.