Repurposed Circus Parade: My First Foray into Kickstarter!

I’ve put up my first ever Kickstarter project! (If you haven’t heard about this great resource, check it out. It’s a fabulous way to get project funding. Each donation level has great prizes attached, if the project doesn’t come through no money goes out, and it’s just an inspiring and fun way to get your information out into the world.)

The project is a Re-purposed Circus in Baraboo, WI (Circus City, USA). It’s the birthplace of the American circus and former home of the Ringling Brothers, now home to Circus World Museum.

Heidi Dakter and I were asked to create performances and workshops for the Summerset Festival of the Arts in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Heidi came from there, I have friends there and we were thrilled. We came up with a repurposed circus parade, using my live draping to transform old circus materials onto the townspeople and the lead clowns and ringmaster from Circus World. Heidi has created a series of memory boxes incorporating old materials and memorabilia into little dioramas, I make garments on live bodies by stapling old fabrics into new garments- it’s a perfect combination for making repurposed arts workshops.

We put together ideas for 2 gallery shows from local sources: the fabulous collection of old circus costumes of Circus World’s Museum, pieces from the renowned American Player’s Theater and Dr. Evermore’s beautifully odd salvaged mechanical creatures. He’s a local artist who’s created stunning creatures out of old machinery, and while his work’s been featured as a roadside attraction he doesn’t have much local attention. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to get people to see what’s in their own backyards…

Unfortunately, Wisconsin’s been going through some difficulties with state funding (you may have heard about the protests) and while the Festival still wants us there, they didn’t know about spending the money to bring in outside talent.

And this is where Kickstarter comes in! We’ve contacted people and already started this process, and just don’t want to let it lie. If we can possibly bring ourselves there, with the help of interested and fabulous folks…

Why not?

Thanks so much, thanks to Kim and Richard and merry spring!

Laura

Links! Please share the link to the project- we’d love to get as many people as possible checking us out.

The Repurposed Circus Kickstarter Project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1898846927/repurposed-circus-parade-and-workshops-in-circus-c

Repurposed Circus Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Repurposed-Circus/128743903868948

Circus World Museum: https://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/

Dr. Evermor’s fabulous creations: https://worldofdrevermor.com/

Heidi Dakter and her stunning textile designs: https://www.heididakter.com/Site/_welcome_.html

And the Summerset Festival of the Arts: https://baraboo.uwc.edu/?pid=1104