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About Cirkus Unik
Elin Lutke founds ConnectArt, developed from the organization Cirkus Unik, also co-founded by Elin but discontinued in 2023. ConnectArt provides continuity and upgrades the project Circus for Mental Health, started in 2021. The film Monster, based on the circus performance created by Elin with employees under the direction of Cirkus Unik, is now part of the ConnectArts initiative and is offered to many schools both nationally and internationally.
Another result of the many years of work in Cirkus Unik is that ConnectArt can now benefit from the large network that has been created over the years of rich collaboration with more than 60 different organizations, companies and municipalities in Västra Götaland, but also with some international actors.
Over the years, more than 45 employees and consultants worked in Circus Unik, and the activity reached and delighted over 23,000 children during this time.
Another experience from this diligent activity is the developed methods we can now continue to use; result of a continuous method development in pedagogy, art and assessment (evaluation) of social impact. A method development that constantly continues and which is, of course, based on the experience we have gained from working with and for children and young people in vulnerable areas.
That all this was possible, we have the support of all our loyal partners to thank for, for example from VGR, Gothenburg’s Cultural Administration, the Cultural Council, Reach for Change, Erik and Lily Philipson’s foundation, etc…
Circus School
Cirkus Unik’s Circus School started back in 2014 with a small group of enthusiastic children in Majorna. In the years that followed, the school grew in collaboration with the Cultural School and came to spread all over Gothenburg, mainly in the vulnerable areas. For several years, we also had a course activity for children with functional variations. Each year ended with a show by and for the children or with a larger event, Meeting Point, with the aim of bringing together circus children and parents in and from all over Gothenburg. Our educational method The Value Wheel, used in every lesson, also served as a method for estimating social impact.
Shows
Cirkus Unik created performances whose main message was inclusion, to dare to be yourself, self-esteem, dare to dream, etc. We performed shows both nationally and internationally; Monster, Dare 2 Be!, Dream Catcher, Hand in Hand, Busningstid, Last minute trip och The City. .
Our competent performers used various circus techniques such as aerial acrobatics, rope, juggling, unicycle, acrobatics, but also theatre, dance and song. We performed in squares, in events, parks and schools all over Gothenburg and the surrounding area and participated in Talang, TV4.
Meeting Point
A large part of Cirkus Unik’s intention with the activities was to contribute to inclusion, and we wanted the children from different neighborhoods and different backgrounds to meet with a common denominator: the love of circus. Each year ended with an invitation to a large get-together where all circus students with their parents could enjoy cozy company and various circus activities with the aim of creating togetherness between circus enthusiasts from all over Gothenburg. In the meetings, parents volunteered to make it all possible and we always ended with an inspiring circus performance from Cirkus Unik.
Circus Relay
The project started because we saw how unequal the neighborhoods in Gothenburg were. We wanted to contribute to children from different schools and backgrounds meeting to create something in common. We chose five different schools in Västra Gothenburg, the most diverse district in Gothenburg. During one year we taught there together with the sports teachers all circus techniques for a total of five occasions per school. The process was filmed in school after school and the previous school’s process was shown as inspiration in the following school and so the relay continued. At the end of the year, we gathered all 125 children with teachers for a joint meeting in Frölunda Kulturhus where we showed the end result, a documentary from the entire project and offered a circus performance with Cirkus Unik’s artists.
