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
Hors Pistes – Circus
Humorologie – Circus and Comedy
MiramirO – Circus, Street Arts and Site-Specific Performance
La Piste aux Espoirs – Circus
Smells Like Circus – Circus
Theater op de Markt – Circus
Zomer van Antwerpen – Circus and other arts
CROATIA
(also moves to Serbia and Slovenia) CirkoBalkana – Circus
Festival Novog Cirkusa – Circus
CZECH REPUBLIC
Cirkopolis – Circus
Cirkulum – Circus and street theatre
Fun Fatale – Circus
Letní Letná – Circus
DENMARK
Ny Cirkus Festival – Circus
ESTONIA
Circus Tree – Circus
FINLAND
Cirko Festivaali – Circus
Cirko Pikkolo – Circus
Circus Ruska – Circus
Future Circus – Circus
Hiljaisuus Festivaali/Silence Festival – Circus and Performing Arts
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
Midi Pyrénées fait son cirque en Avignon – Circus
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
GREECE
Athens Circus Festival – Circus
HUNGARY
Budapest International Circus Festival – Circus
ITALY
Festival Mirabilia – Circus and Performing Arts
La Strada Festival – Circus and Street Arts
LATVIA
ReReRiga – Street Arts and Circus
Golden Karl – Circus acts
LITHUANIA
Cirkuliacija – Circus
New Circus Weekend – Circus
MONACO
Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo – Circus acts
NETHERLANDS
Circo Circolo – Circus
CircusFestival Enschede – Circus
Circusstad – Circus
Circustheaterdagen – 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 Circo – Circus
Firatàrrega – Visual Performance and Circus
MalabHaría – Circus
(Catalonia) Trapezi – Circus
SWEDEN
Southern Swedish Circus Festival – Circus
Subtopia – Circus (Industry only)
SWITZERLAND
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 🙂