Philly is home to the nation’s only accredited circus school – but it’s shutting down
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When Shana Kennedy founded the Circadium School of Contemporary Circus in 2017, she had high hopes. The school, which became the first and only accredited and licensed circus school in America, was intended to mimic the success of circus schools in other countries.
“We were really trying to trailblaze this artistic and modern form of circus that we see in other countries,” she said. “We were trying to make circus a more relevant, exciting and evolving art form.”
After years of work and navigating administrative and financial challenges, Circadium announced earlier this year that it would close its doors on June 1.
Kennedy said there were many challenges the school had faced from the beginning – including finances. She said a big part of getting accredited was hoping to receive financial aid.
That funding hope was squashed with several moves from the Trump administration.
“Last year, the Trump administration slashed the funding” for the Department of Education, she said. “So, when we went to apply for financial aid for our students in the spring of last year, they just shut us down. They just said they were not taking any new applications at this point.”
The school’s National Endowment for the Arts funding was also rescinded last year. In an email in May of last year, the Trump administration said it was “terminating awards that fall outside of” new NEA funding priorities.
This happened right before an important show – leading the school to scramble for another funding option.
“We had to do a panicked round of emergency fundraising to cover the cost of that show because the director had flown here from France, and we were already well into the process of the contracts having been signed,” she said. “But, we were successful in doing that fundraising, and so the show last year was able to go on as planned.”
She acknowledged getting NEA funding each year was already a lengthy application process, but she said these funding cuts combined with a lack of financial aid created a “bleak” financial picture.
“We met over the course of the fall to try to figure out what our options were,” she said. “It just reached a point where it just has become unsustainable.”
Resources like Circadium’s sister school, The Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, will still be around for students trying to learn recreationally.
But Kennedy said this kind of “one-stop shop” for circus resources that Circadium provided can’t easily be replicated.
“There is no other place in the United States that is doing this,” she said. “It takes a lot of resources and special personnel and space to create that kind of space for that incubation process of artistic work.
“We’re really proud of having created that here, and it’s just not something that is going to be able to exist anywhere else.”
Circadium was unique in that it provided a mix of traditional circus arts and creative performance.
“So our students are trained here to work in circuses that exist,” she said. “They train juggling, acrobatics, tight wire, unicycle, and all kinds of aerial apparatus, and they are able to go and work for things like traveling circuses, cruise ships, theme parks, and places like that.”
“However, they’ve spent a lot of their time here doing original creative work, so trying to make contemporary circus by blending theater and dance with circus.”
She said these kinds of skills are vital for those looking to start their own performances or shows.
Kennedy emphasized that there is a much more fruitful and successful circus performance school community in other countries.
“When you have just a bit of government backing, the art form begins to take off,” she said. “You get more and more artists that turn into this whole ecosystem. You have thriving festivals, you have residency spaces, and you have a whole artistic universe that kind of builds around the school institution.”
“I have seen that success in quite a few other countries, which is why we had hoped to make it happen here.”
She said resources like the International Network for Professional Circus Education help to support these European schools as well.
Circadium students will perform one last time at Fringe Arts on May 26-27. You can keep up-to-date on details on their website.
Circadium is just one example of Philly schools that have closed over the years. One of Philly’s most prolific arts schools, The University of the Arts, closed on short notice in 2024, leaving many students, staff and teachers hurt and confused.
