Circus, street art and spectacle are at different stages of development in Ireland. Circus has two distinct strands; - traditional or classical circus and contemporary circus, the former with a long working history in Ireland and the latter being relatively new. Street art, or street theatre has developed more recently, with a number of practitioners being ‘self taught’. Spectacle has long standing roots within the Irish culture, originally linked to key traditional events such as St Patrick’s Day and Halloween.
However, little informal or formal training exists for these art forms, which has hampered the development of a wide pool of practitioners. To respond to developmental needs, in 2006 the Arts Council adopted a formal policy for these art forms, stimulated by the inclusion of circus in the Arts Act in 2003.
With the adoption of the policy for circus, street art and spectacle, there is now an opportunity for these art forms to be on a level playing field with the Arts Council’s wider portfolio and with a good dialogue with practitioners, programmers and local authorities, the quantity and quality of this work will continue to grow.