The Hungarian Juggling Association is the PLATFORM in Hungary of INDEPENDENT CIRCUS ARTISTS. It gives an official background to all initiatives about juggling as a circus art, sport or hobby/ free time activity. In its projects, the members of the association use the creativity, joyfullness, and challenge of juggling combined with a strong educational approach, in this way completing cultural, educative and civil missions.
The Hungarian Juggling Association evolves its activity both at national and international level.
The Association’s main 4 NATIONAL MISSIONS are:
- Give opportunities to the members for networking
- Disseminate news to the community, therefore run a website: and a facebook group.
- run the INspiral Circus space as the core space for practice, artistic work, networking and trainings.
- Organize and coordinate international projects, meetings and events, among them the yearly Hungarian Juggling Convention.
Beside these main activities, they promote the national network of juggling clubs, run a collective focusing on the research of teaching methods, and run a social circus collective that performs research and shares ideas on this topic.
They cooperate with important Hungarian circus professionals: organize common events and collaborate for the development of the circus sector.
At INTERNATIONAL LEVEL the Hungarian Juggling Association is very active:
The association has carried out, or was co-organizer, of more than 60 international projects during its 15 years activity.
They initiated and created NEW PARTNERSHIPS and participated actively in INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS.
They are a member of several European professional networks and the coordinator of the Social Educircation european social circus network and of the Mixdoor performing art european project
The Association, because of its wide international connections, is also an information point to the Hungarian community and transmits the European news at national level.
The members of the Association can travel in the frame of the European project to partner countries. They have to answer to the calls, send applications and go through a selection procedure. Beneficiaries each time organize a dissemination workshop to give on the knowledge and also inform the membership about their activity through the community’s channels.
Beside Social Educircation Network the International activity:
– partners in Circollaborative Tool project: 8 countries working on the use of IT tools in circus business. La Granerie, Central del Circ, Espace Catastoph, Cirqueon, Arts Printing House, Mirabiglia festival, Circo Circolo festival, Ekito and us.
– partners in Advocacy for Social Circus project with coordination of Cirqueon and partners CirKusKus, Associacio Valenciana Circ.
– partners in Visegradian cooperations about social circus www.socialcircus.eu
– coordination of Mixdoor project under Creative Europe. 4 countries realizing training and a performance mixing indoor and outdoor forms.
And earlier :
ENCI network: www.circusnetworks.eu
Circonnection network : www.circonnection.eu
Connecting two European Cultural Capitals Pécs- Istanbul
SOCIAL CIRCUS MISSION
They started social circus activity in Hungary in 2001 with a small group of volunteers, who worked for an entire year in an orphanage. Since then they have had more than 100 social circus actions each year. The sessions were based occasionally, and without regular base.In 2012 they established a ‘SOCIAL CIRCUS ACTION GROUP’ as a part of the Association. This action group has 12 solid members and other cc15-25 volunteers who work with the group occasionally.
The group consists of circus practitioners, amongst them teachers with teaching experience of 5-8 years, psychologists, anthropologists, and social workers. They provide training and have regular meetings to share experience.
- Weekly groups in different social environments
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- In the periphery of Budapest, in the district of Pesterzsébet they are working with the Kaj Zhas (Where are you going) roma circus group since 2014. During these years, many young people have learned juggling, acrobatics and balancing on our weekly sessions. There were many performances, camps, circus programs, and the most devoted members participated in four youth exchange programs abroad. The youngsters we have been meeting every week for 4 years, became great jugglers, they help us as young co-trainers, and circus has become an important part of their identity.
- with a group of refugee children and young people there are weekly circus sessions at the city of Fót for young asylum seekers. They consider it very important that these youngsters, who suffered so much, not only receive the minimum life conditions by arriving to Hungary, but also nice experiences and playfull care.
- The Psycho Circus program works with children and adolescents in the Psychiatric Department of the Heim Pál Children’s Hospital with weekly circus sessions. The goal is to give a sense of success and fun, contribute in the mental recovery, and to make better the inevitably unpleasant stay in the hospital.
- They have a 20 hours training for professionals working in Health- Social and educational sector. So they can learn the social circus methods and integrate it into their daily work. More than 50 professionals completed this course int he last 3 years and most of them is using in their daily work at different levels.
- Social circus professional day every months, which is to chanelize all those who are active in the social circus area in Hungary. This aims to bring them further methods during these sessions and also they can report about the work they are doing. Since it is not anymore the Hungarian Juggling Association being active in social circus field but many more individuals and association they create this meeting point for these professionals as a tool for further development, sharing and meeting.
They have several occasional actions as well, such as going to orphan camps or seniors houses, rehabilitation center, immigration camps. They are starting academic research to measure the physical and mental advantage of circus practise. We organize CONFERENCEs with the title: ‘Importance of circus in social integration’.
For more information see the website of Hungarian Juggling Association.
In case of any questions contact Veronika Gallyas
gallyas.veronika@gmail.com, +36205565762