While this page was initially intended to showcase festivals dedicated to circus work, I have added some extras where circus is regularly a substantial part of the programming, particularly within my national context of the UK
UK + IRELAND
Circus City – Circus
Glastonbury Theatre and Circus – Big Top and Street Performance
Inside Out Dorset – Outdoor Arts
Irish Aerial Dance Festival – Aerial Dance
National Circus Festival of Ireland – Circus
Out There Festival – Circus and Street Arts
Stockton International River Festival – Outdoor Arts
TILT Festival – Aerial and Physical Theatre
BELGIUM
Festival UP! – Circus
HP – Circus and other arts
MiramirO – Circus, Street Arts and Site-Specific Performance
La Piste aux Espoirs – Circus
Smells Like Circus – Circus
Theater op de Markt – Circus
Vitrine Perplx – Showcase for new circus artists
Zomer van Antwerpen – Circus and other arts
CROATIA
(also moves to Serbia and Slovenia) CirkoBalkana – Circus
Festival neobičnih obitelji/Peculiar Families Festival – Circus
CZECH REPUBLIC
Cirkopolis – Circus
Cirkulum – Circus and street theatre
Fun Fatale – Circus
Letní Letná – Circus and theatre
DENMARK
Copenhagen Circus Arts Festival – Circus
FINLAND
Circus Ruska – Circus
Hiljaisuus Festivaali/Silence Festival – Circus and Performing Arts
Salo Circus Festival – Circus
FRANCE
Biennale Internationale des Arts du Cirque – Circus
CIRCa – Circus
Festival des Artistes de Cirque – Circus
Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain – Circus acts
Furies Festival – Circus and Street Arts
Village de Cirque – Circus
GERMANY
ATOLL Festival – Circus
Berlin Circus Festival – Circus
Strada – Street Arts and Circus
Via Thea – Street Arts and Circus
Zircomania – Circus
HUNGARY
Budapest International Circus Festival – Circus
ITALY
Festival Mirabilia – Circus and Performing Arts
La Strada Festival – Circus and Street Arts
LATVIA
ReRiga – Street Arts and Circus
LITHUANIA
Cirkuliacija – Circus
Helium – Circus
MONACO
Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo – Circus acts
NETHERLANDS
Circo Circolo – Circus
Circusstad – Circus
This Is Not A Circus – Circus
NORWAY
Circus Village – Circus
POLAND
Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów – Circus and Street Arts
OFCA (Oleśnicki festiwal cyrkowo artystyczny) – Circus
Cyrkulacje – Circus Acts
PORTUGAL
Leme Festival – Circus and Street Arts
RUSSIA
Idol World Festival of Circus Art – Circus acts
Moscow International Circus Festival – Circus Acts
ROMANIA
Sibiu – Theatre and Circus
SERBIA
(also moves to Croatia and Slovenia) CirkoBalkana – Circus
SLOVENIA
(also moves to Serbia and Croatia) CirkoBalkana – Circus
SPAIN
Festival Internacional De Circo De Albacete – Circus
Firatàrrega – Visual Performance and Circus
MalabHaría – Circus
(Catalonia) Trapezi – Circus
SWEDEN
Cirkus Mania – Circus
Southern Swedish Circus Festival – Circus
SWITZERLAND
Cirqu’ – Circus
Young Stage – Circus
There’s also a variety of circus arts available at large performing arts festivals like Edinburgh, Brighton, and Helsinki.
Do drop me a line to add any to the list!
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[…] European Circus Festivals […]
ATOLL Festival for contemporary circus in Karlsruhe in Germany in Septmeber
Tête a tête street theater festival in Rastatt, Germany every other year in June
Some more festivals from Finland for your list:
Circus Ruska Festival is on January in Tampere. The website’s english version is quite modest, but the festival isn’t. http://circusruska.com/festival/en/
Silence Festival in June in Kittilä, Lapland, it programmes other performing arts as well but circus is in the centre. http://hiljaisuusfestivaali.info/silence-festival/
In Turku they have this very small festival called Future Circus in August, the website is only in Finnish, I’m afraid. http://www.futurecircus.fi/
Tampere Theatre Festival in August and Helsinki Festival in August and September also present occasional circus. http://www.teatterikesa.fi/in_english/
http://www.helsinginjuhlaviikot.fi/en/
Great, thank you! Have added them to the list 🙂
its so helpful thanks Katharine for your effort !!
good;
In August there’s gonna be a festival in Tallinn, Estonia – Circus Tree Festival http://www.circustree.ee , https://www.facebook.com/TsirkusePuu 🙂
Great, thanks for adding the info!
Hi Kathrine! Are you interested in World Circus Festivals in Russia?
Since 9 till 20 of September in Moscow starts The 3rd World Circus Festival “Idol” http://idolfest.ru/
Just right now the International Fest is going in Moscow http://www.circusnikulin.ru/lang/rus/file/news/7.html
Thank for the information.
GAMO Circus Ethiopia.
You’re welcome, glad it’s useful 🙂
Hello Katharine
Do you have received the information of my book PORTRAITS OF CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS?
Best
Wim Claessen
The review is now up at https://www.thecircusdiaries.com/2017/02/08/portraits-of-contemporary-circus-presented-by-wim-claessen/ 🙂
More festivals for your list (Spain):
http://www.curtcirckit.cat/ Festival Curtcirckit (Circus)
http://www.plederiure.cat/ Ple de Riure (Circus/ Clown/ Physical Theatre)
http://firadecirc.org/ Festival La Bisbal (Circus and Street Acts)
https://grecfestival.koobin.com/ Festival Grec (Circus, Dance, Theatre)
You can also add imaginarius festival in portugal
hey katherine,
great list!
Here two more festivals:
Luftartistik Festspiele Berlin / Aerial Arts Festival Berlin
http://www.aerialartsfestival.de
Fun Fatale – Festival for women in circus – Prague
http://www.funfatale.cz
See you in Prague at the conference!!!
All the best,
Jana Korb
Hello Katharine, thank you for the great list. I would be great if you could add our festival too:
Winterfest – Festival for contemporary circus in Salzburg, Austria
https://www.winterfest.at/?lang=en
Warm wishes from winterly Austria,
Simone
Cirkulum from Czech Republic is missing:)
In Estonia there will be BadoomTss in July: https://www.facebook.com/events/844517797510449
Thanks for sharing, that looks lush! I think I will have to start another page soon to list all the Convention events 🙂
Katharine Kavanagh Thank you for your information But most of the festival links don’t work. If anyone knows the new links, please post them in the comment box.
Thank you for this comment! It’s been on my to-do list for ages to check/update these links, and your message prompted me to finally do something about it! All links should now be working, and any new ones are always welcome!