Social Circus - Building Bridges

Partners: Circusful (Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Coraggio (Berlin)

Image © Circusful, Aimee Buckley

"Building bridges between Belfast and Berlin’ will allow Circusful and Coraggio to explore new ways of working and reaching communities together and in our own respective home locations. For Circusful we are particularly interested in evolving with the changing demographics of Belfast and ensuring our activities reach newly arrived communities as well as existing ones. Coraggio will learn from our work in a post-colonial/post-conflict environment and how circus has helped transformation and regeneration.

Both organisations are very excited about this new partnership and hope to be building bridges that will last into the future."

Flora Herberich, Head of Programmes, Circusful

About the partners

Since 2019, Coraggio - Die Kulturanstifter e.V. has been providing holistic cultural education for people of all ages through theatre, circus and dance in various districts of Berlin. We believe that everyone has the right to shape society and their own lives. With our combination of circus, education and social work, we open new worlds of experience and learning with all the senses. Our goal is to create an inclusive society of confident, resilient individuals, to foster intercultural understanding and counter negative stereotypes. Our self-organised team consists of cultural and movement educators and people from social work, who are sensitised to participants’ different life realities and support each individual in their personal development.

Circusful celebrates its 40th Birthday in 2025. Born out of Belfast’s troubled history, Circusful builds on the legacy of Belfast Community Circus School by promoting peace building and social cohesion in a post-conflict society suffering from inherited trauma. We support people to surprise themselves through circus. We meet them where they are, have fun and build a community together. Our nurturing, creative and artistic atmosphere helps everyone to thrive. Our ‘Try, Fail, Grow’ Model helps participants develop skills such as: creativity, critical thinking, leadership, flexibility, initiative and persistence. These are useful for them today and position them well for the future. Our work actively supports positive mental health and wellbeing amongst participants and their networks and communities. We work directly with over 1,000 young people every year.