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THE AOTEAROA NZ CIRCUS CENSUS


The Circus Census is back!

Coming this April 2024, we'll be conducting the second ever circus census of the entire circus community in Aotearoa.

Why is doing the census important? Creating a picture of the Aotearoa New Zealand circus landscape helps us to better understand who we are, hear everyone’s voices and it allows us to better advocate for the needs of the industry when we have data to back up what we know about the incredible impact of circus!

You'll be able to find a link to the census on this page when it opens on April 1st.


Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ANZCA Circus Census?

It’s like the official census but for the circus community! 

What is the purpose of it?

We want to know where all the circus people are and what they do to create a snapshot of the industry as it is now. This will help us to define growth in the future, create a sense of community identity now, and will give information to members of the community that they can use. 

What data is it collecting?

Information on how many circus people are in Aotearoa, who we are, what we do and how we do it.

Who can do the census?

Anyone who considers themselves part of the circus community and participated in it between April 2023 and April 2024.

But what counts as circus?! Circus is a collection of diverse activities that can be practiced in a multitude of contexts (including recreational, therapeutic, educational, competitive and performance). 

A person who practices circus could be doing acrobatics, aerials (e.g. trapeze or rope), equilabristics (e.g. rola bola or handstands), object manipulation (e.g. juggling or hooping), side show and freakshow, clowning and mime or fire spinning.

In addition, we also want to include people who support circus; riggers, administration guru’s, producers and costume makers!!  We want to make sure people who do things like pole and slack line get included if they consider themselves part of the wider circus community!

If you identify as doing any of these, regardless of context we would like to hear from you! Your activity doesn't need to have been mentioned above... What's important to us is that you identify as someone who does or practices circus!

How long is the census open?

The census will be open online for one month between 1st April and 30th April.

What happens to all the data and how is it going to be utilised?

The data will be extracted from SurveyMonkey and analysed by our research team with full findings published in a report later this year.

Is my information confidential?

Yes. Individual data from the census will remain confidential and anonymous. The report that will be published will only contain aggregated information of the community.


HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019

ANZCA last conducted the Circus Census in 2019 and thanks to you we had an epic response!

  • There were 856 respondents to the Circus Census who were involved in the New Zealand circus community as a practitioner in some capacity (as a student, teacher, performer, running a circus project or circus school, rigger, administration etc.)

  • 86% of Census respondents indicated that they mainly participate in community circus. 

  • Of our circus students, the most popular circus discipline to have participated in was aerials (82%).

  • The disciplines our performers do (including aspiring performers) are aerials (56%), manipulation (39%), acrobatics (31%), fire (23%), equilibristics (23%), clowning/mask (17%), magic (7%), sideshow (6%) and other (12%).

  • 20% of those working in the circus industry in the period between April 2018 and April 2019 were working voluntarily only.

Below links to the 2019 results which outline each question and responses for all New Zealand circus practitioners.

2019 Census results.pdf

Damian Gordon - Circus Aotearoa

Evelyn Coulson - Newtown Festival

CONTACT
info@anzca.co.nz


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