Exciting Events Coming in 2021:
We are excited to offer lots of fun performances, events and workshops in 2021. Of course, we can’t predict how 2021 will happen and all events depend upon public health regulations. No matter what, we will continue to share our art with our community. We are looking forward to another fun and exciting year in Santa Fe!
Events and Intensives
Winter Circus Cabaret – December 26 &27
A student showcase of all the things we have been creating over quarantine – with a focus on the Holidays
Elevate Adult Workshop – January 3-16
A two-week “circus boot-camp” for adults of all ages, genders, and skill levels. The focus is personal fitness through circus skills in a supportive, challenging, and gender equal environment.
Spring Circus Cabaret – April 3rd and 4th
A student showcase of all the things we have been learning and creating in classes, workshops and trainings.
BUST! Adult Workshop & Performance – May 29 – July 11
A 6 week adult workshop that ends in a show created by participants!
Fall Circus Cabaret – September 25 &26
A student showcase of all the things we have been learning and creating in classes, workshops and trainings.
Winter Intensives – December 13- 31
A series of workshops aimed at sharing new information and coaches with our community.
Kids Circus Camps
Winter Camp – December 21-23
Students learn stilt-walking, unicycling, aerial fabric, trapeze, juggling, puppet-making, clowning and more in a safe, non-competitive environment.
Spring Break Camp – March 15-19
Students learn stilt-walking, unicycling, aerial fabric, trapeze, juggling, puppet-making, clowning and more in a safe, non-competitive environment.
Wee Kids Camp – June 14 – 18
Wee Kids camp is a half-day camp for youth 5-7 years old who want to learn to fly on the trapeze, walk tall on stilts, find their inner clown, make wearable art, and tumble their way into fun!
Teen Camp – June 14 – 25
Youth entering 7th – 12th grades. Students will get to explore all the circus arts and then pick a couple of disciplines to focus on to perform in a showcase for friends and family at the end of the two weeks. The camp will also include a focus on conditioning, flexibility and performance skills.
Summer Camps – July 5 – 16 & July 19 – July 30
Youth learn amazing circus skills including stiltwalking, trapeze, juggling, aerial fabric, clowning, acrobatics, and puppetry – culminating in spectacular shows! The first session of Summer Camp is suitable for students ages 7-12, of all levels, no experience necessary. The second is for Youth who have done a camp or class session previously.
*Location at Wise Fool Studios unless otherwise indicated
Event Entertainment Year Round!
Wise Fool Teens are Resilient!
Throughout the whole COVID-19 pandemic our Teen Troupe met weekly to train, connect and continue to grow as artists. Our incredible Teens are resilient and passionate and we now know that they can get through anything. These meetings became a vital link to each other, by holding space for processing what was happening in their lives, school, home life, and lack of social life: a truly necessary experience in teen life. During a moment where a lot of us wanted to draw inward these teens grew outward, finding healthy avenues of expression through circus and performance arts. They uplifted us! Thank you TEEN TROUPE!
We are looking forward to making up for lost time and doing as much performing, sharing and adventuring with our teens as we are able to in the new year!
See some of their process here:
Some Quotes from Teen Troupe
“Wise Fool is always there for me, from the time I was born I was spending time there and having a blast. My favorite thing about wise fool is probably the community, most of the people who work there have known me since I was like two and they are just the nicest people I’ve ever met. Most of my best friends I met at Wise Fool and even with this closure we still talk daily. And Wise Fool is an outlet for me to get everything out without talking about it.”
“I’m Revely Rothschild, I’m sixteen years old, and I’ve been coming to Wise Fool since I was six. This is my fourth year as member of Teen Troupe, and in the past I’ve been both a camper and a counselor in summer camps at the studio. Having spent over half my life at Wise Fool, I can confidently say two things: I’ve never experienced a more supportive community, and without that community, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. My coaches are the kindest people I know, and they have never stopped encouraging me to be better while also accepting me for who I am and the abilities I already have. On top of that, I’ve met a lot of really incredible people because of Wise Fool. I feel really lucky to know them, and I feel even luckier to be part of such an amazing organization!”
Social Circus Network
Leaders from Social Circus Network, opened their meetings to all Social Circus Studios around the globe as a way to support each other, and dream up new ways of training and doing circus in a pandemic.
What is social circus? At Wise Fool social circus is using the healing art of circus to build strength, connections, community, and resilience.
Why social circus? Social circus nurtures self-esteem, builds trust in others, develops social skills, encourages active citizenship, and inspires creative expression.
Throughout the pandemic, our Directors have continued to be leaders in the Social Circus Network. We have been meeting with the network to discuss survival tactics, support other leaders and discuss the important issues like safety and practicing anti-racism in our circus communities.
Community Conversations
Twice in 2020 we met for Community Conversations with Wise Fool Leadership and our community. These Dialogues are aimed to create a space, with our community, to discuss and engage in racial justice and racial healing. After one of the largest social movements in the history of the country occurring in 2020 around the Movement for Black Lives, this dialogue is making progress. As an organization with social justice as part of our core mission, we want to create a brave space for continuing our dialogue around race and how to be better advocates, allies, community members, and just better human beings. In the coming year we plan to continue to dialogue with our community about how Wise Fool can do better work in support of Social Justice.
Please join us for our Community Days in 2021: January 18, April 17 – More announced later!
Virtual Shows and Programming
During 2020 we expanded into sharing our art virtually. This took some training and growing technologically on our part. We are grateful to now have these skills, and we see how they will continue to expand our performative work in the future. We began offering online classes, which is a great way for people to continue their circus journey form the safety and comfort of their home! We also branched out and had two virtual Cabarets and shared our CircAspire show virtually! We were grateful to be able to share our performances with family and friends who are far away and normally might not be able to attend a show!
Uplifting Youth with the Circus Arts
Our leadership continued to be part of our community in Santa Fe and throughout the country. We have continued to be active participants in the Santa fe Community Educators Network, including sharing curriculum with them. We also participated in a CARES child care programming, which provided vouchers to youth and families in need of childcare (and fun). This program gave vouchers to students so they could benefit from circus while receiving childcare free of cost. Finally, we adapted our Afterschool programming and camps to the pandemic so that Santa Fe’s youth could continue to grow strong and resilient through the circus arts – and let’s not forget about the importance of laughter and play!
Announcing Co-Executive Directorship!
This year we transitioned to a Co-Directorship model! We have three Co-Directors that carry the vision, responsibilities and community of Wise Fool. We have been working throughout the year to support each other and build a unified vision for the Organization. Please watch this clip from our 2020 Phone-a-Thon where all three Directors were interviewed.
Support From Our Community
Though we were rocked a bit by Covid-19, we have been deeply involved in reimagining what we can offer our community. When we had to close and then reassess what we could offer, you were there supporting us. Thank you to everyone who donated, took classes and engaged with our events. Our community is what inspires us to create and share the circus arts – thank you.
A huge HUGE thank you to the businesses, individuals, government and private foundations who supported our core programs and operations so far this calendar year.
When we come together as a community, we all fly!
Thank You 2020 Donors! You truly made it possible for us to stay alive in 2021
Del Norte Credit Union
Century Bank
You truly made it possible for us to stay alive in 2021
