CIRCUS ERUPTION

Bubble Circus - for children and their adults to learn and play together returns TOMORROW, Sunday 15th Sept! Join us for circussy fun from 2-4pm. No need to book, but please fill in the form on the website before coming along.

Our sessions — Circus Eruption Circus Eruption exists to promote the social inclusion and integration of young people aged 3 to 19 through the medium of circus skills

Funding chat at ours, Tuesday 17th at 10.30!

We're hosting 'funding kitchen' again - the peer run support, connection and collaboration group for anyone who's responsible for fundraising in a charity or nonprofit in and around Swansea.

At our building (92A Stepney Street, SA5 8BD), 10.30-12.30 - we'll talk about an upcoming shared campaign and have the chance to let others know about any funding experiences or opportunities!

We are just about to start a new term and have some spaces in our Junior Circus, (ages 7-11)

Do you want your child to develop more resilience, greater sociability and physical co-ordination? Might your child thrive in or need a fun, supportive and integrated environment?

Circus Eruption, is an inclusion charity that uses Circus Skills as a tool to engage and challenge young people. If you would like to join please email [email protected] for a registration form as places are limited. We are free, although we do accept donations.

We start back on the 17th September :-)

It's tomorrow and Saturday! Who will we see there?

DELIGHTED to see that the epic people at Exist Skatepark have reached their target to secure their building's future for the next decade. Massive well done them!! 🥳🥳🥳👏👏

And... honestly - we get it! That domino effect of funding Kate talks about 'but we should be OK' - 100% solidarity! What she's saying there is that it's not a straightforward process; and also we can tell you from experience that they're not suddenly minted just because they're scraping over the line now on securing their building for the next decade (AMAZING though that definitely is!!).

Please, please continue to support the organisations you value if you possibly can, because funding is tough, and the 'behind the scenes' journeys of us nonprofit organisations keeping going are feats of endurance themselves!

The return of Love Circus! We had such a good time in February we decided to do it again. Come and join us in our building for circus skills, arts and crafts and plenty of fun!! We will be open from 1-4pm on August 30th and 31st, and It's FREEEEEE!!!!
Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult (unless they are current members of our Tuesday Night Circus.)

Come and find us at these events! (We'll be at the 5th and 6th, but not the 7th) Lots of summer fun to be had :-)

Free Kids summer sessions - 5th Aug 10-1pm Phoenix Centre, Townhill, 6th Aug 11-2pm Blaenymaes Community Centre, 7th Aug 10-1pm Mumbles Skate Park.
Skate/scooter, circus skills, dj-ing, spray painting, break dancing.
For more information see www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk or just turn up on the day!

SWANSEA NONPROFITS - we peer organise to support one another in fundraising journeys through a little informal gathering called 'Funding Kitchen'; the next one is **This Wednesday** 24th July, 1-3pm!
We're planning our joint legacy campaign for the autumn.

This one is once again kindly hosted by Swansea Council for Voluntary Service (SwanseaCVS) - Voluntary Action Centre, 7 Walter Road, Swansea SA1 5NF.

Did you know that after every Youth and Junior Circus session, staff and volunteers have a chat about as many 'oh no' and 'oh yay' moments as we can recall?! It can be anything - a real range of reflections - something we could have done better, something we've seen or heard that is brilliant, something that we've noticed.

Here's a shot of us making sure we're doing EVERYTHING we can to get it right for everyone, keep everyone safe and maximise the FUN!

[Image: staff and volunteers reflecting on our Youth Circus session this week, 11 people sitting round a table, with Alex taking notes on the laptop. Two volunteers are out of shot).

Our building - so far / Ein hadeilad - hyd yn hyn - THE MOVIE! (Well, a 5 minute snapshot!).

Our mission is ALL about participation, inclusion and integration, with a focus on young people and children. All we've ever really needed is a big room, circus kit, and a load of amazing people to make it happen.

Our big room was a school hall 1991-2014, but then after a series of charity lets and a rental, the big room we need finally became an incredible Grade II listed former church which we actually own. We opened up in 2021 - what a ride! We've got big plans for the future, but for now, enjoy the 'story so far'.

Our Building — Circus Eruption The former St Luke’s church on Stepney Street, Cwmbrwla is now our forever home! We bought it in April 2019, and after necessary access works and repairs, we opened the doors in October 2021. Building development and repair is - of course - ongoing! We’re very excited to have received funding fr...

BBC Young Musician of the Year is being filmed in Swansea, and you can go. For FREE!! THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY! Click the link below. (This is nothing to do with CE, obvs. It's an opportunity we've been asked to share).

BBC Young Musician 2024 Quarter & Semi Finals | Shows and tours Launched in November 2023, this year’s edition of BBC Young Musician has seen hundreds of submissions from promising young classical performers from every corner of the UK. Fifty were selected to go through to the live auditions in April, and now twelve will compete over two nights, Thursday 4 and...

WE HAVE PLANTERS! And, as of yesterday, more plants to go in them! Also, as of a couple of months ago, we have a volunteer willing and able to lead a gardening group, so - it's back!

If you're 18+ and you'd like to help us plant, w**d, and water, Tuesdays 1-3 is FOR YOU. We need you to fill in a form and it'd be great if you could do this before you arrive - link in comments.

HUGE thanks to the epic duo Ami Marsden and Nigel Simpson for their planter and bug hotel building workshops, for all the prep beforehand and then setting everything up outside after, and their brilliant creativity, flexibility and support.

Look, The Environment Centre, things are growing! :) Thank you SO MUCH for making the planter building a reality.

Wythnos diwethaf, cawson ni hwyl wrth i ni ddathlu Wythnos Gwirfoddolwyr! // We had a great time celebrating Volunteers Week!

Mae ein gwirfoddolwyr ni yn rhoi eu hamser nhw a eu hegni nhw i wneud popeth a wnawn yn Circus Eruption yn bosibl! Dyma luniau o'n Picnic Wythnos Gwirfoddolwyr a trip Preswyl Gwirfoddolwyr (a cardiau diolch :))

Our volunteers give their time and energy to make everything we do at Circus Eruption possible! Here are some pictures from our Volunteers' Week Picnic and Volunteer Residential (and thank you cards :))

We love Glansevin Mansion - Plas Glansefin .
Since 2022 they've partnered with us, hosting our staff and trustees on an annual Away Day and becoming friends - we have a major thing in common as we're both custodians of amazing listed spaces and we both LOVE the heritage of our buildings, and are inspired by bringing their futures into being.

If you want a beautiful, flexible space for your business, family event or even wedding, Glansevin is a home from home. Well, a Georgian manor house where we can all feel at home, anyway!

Thanks to the team at Glansevin for their active welcome and warm connection with our work - our away days make a huge difference to our work!

Our friends at Mixtup are recruiting!!

COAST FUNDING KLAXON!!!

Swansea Council have reopened COAST, this time for activities taking place between 20th JULY and 30th SEPT. Deadline 20 June.

If you'd like to include a circus workshop in your bid, please contact Martha for a price for your group/event - outreach [@] circuseruption.co.uk. Alternatively, message this page with your email and phone number and we'll pass it on to Martha ASAP!

(It's a really good idea to check dates with Martha too, and we can pencil your date in pending COAST funding. You can then confirm or cancel once you've had notification. Summer is busy so if you aren't flexible with dates, it helps us all if you have that conversation first!).

Here's the link for more info and applying: https://www.swansea.gov.uk/COASTfund

COAST Fund (Creating Opportunities Across Swansea Together) - Swansea The COAST Fund builds on the previous rounds of COAST and its predecessors. It aims to provide free or affordable activities for people who reside or are supported in Swansea.

Supporting our young people to participate in the parade is ALWAYS a joy! What a brilliant day!

SWANSEA NONPROFIT ORGANSATIONS - **THIS THURSDAY** 23rd May '24 - 1pm-2.30pm - is our next 'funding kitchen' gathering, which is a quarterly-ish peer support / development session for ANYONE locally who's involved in funding/fundraising for a voluntary sector group (charity, CIC etc).

This time it's being hosted by Swansea Council for Voluntary Service this time - at their Voluntary Action Centre 7 Walter Road Swansea SA1 5NF. Thanks SCVS! :)

See you there / spread the word!

(it helps us if you let us know you're coming - message Circus Eruption or email [email protected] - but you can just turn up as well!)

Milestone! This week marks five years since we bought the former St Luke's church in Cwmbwrla - '92a Stepney Street' - to become a permanent base for our inclusion charity. We opened the space in October 2021 and we haven't looked back!

At the heart of our work is long term circus workshops with children and young people of all abilities, free at the point of use, with an active welcome for those who face various challenges (like having statements/labels of disability, having care experience, being young carers, being from refugee/asylum seeker backgrounds, and lots more). Around 150 children and young people are part of this every year (some of them are part of Eruption for several years!), and around 900 more experience shorter term (up to 6 weeks) or one-off funded projects.

Other things which have taken place in and because of the building have been an active engagement with the local community and former congregation - what a welcome!; incredible performances and workshops from other groups and organisations; regular hall hire (currently including weekly community choir, movement/balance class and sound bath, monthly acro yoga, and zumba in the past), visits from funders and the chair of the Charity Commission, a lot of organisational development, courses and events (our own and others), opening the space to the local community for warm spaces, 'lend a hand', planter building and incredible 'Love Circus' afternoons!

The work in bringing the space back into use has been amazing, and has created new connections and experience in the amazing opportunities heritage buildings offer to their local communities and beyond. The building is definitely a work in progress with so much done so far (in stages) and so much more to come. We're excited to share that we are having heating installed during the summer break!

We are so fortunate to be the custodians of such an incredible space - thank you to EVERYONE who's been part of the story so far.
People are everything... The children and young people are amazing at ensuring their circus delivers what they want and need - which would not be possible without our volunteers, staff and trustees as well as our HUGE network of friends, collaborators, funders, building wranglers, and general behind the scenes cheerleaders. Thank you all so much.

Chris The Coast Walker Mixtup The Roots Foundation Wales Discovery SVS (Student Volunteering Swansea) Swansea Council for Voluntary Service The Architectural Heritage Fund Community Foundation Wales Garfield Weston Foundation CircusWorks The Environment Centre C’est la vie community choir Localgiving Fiery Jack Entertainment Stiklings WCVA CGGC Austin Bailey Foundation Swansea West Glamorgan Regional Partnership Cwmbwrla, Manselton, Brynhyfryd and Gendros Community F.it Swansea People's Postcode Lottery Swansea Council Manselton & District Heritage Community St Michael's Church, Manselton Manselton & Cwmbwrla Community Centre The Moondance Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust and so so many others too.

*PLANTER MAKING*! More opportunities coming up to support us with this - Thursday, 10-2, throughout March (14th, 21st, 28th - children can join with adults on 28th)

We had a brilliant day last week with volunteers making planters to help 'green up' our concrete corridors. We can't wait until the planters take their places and everything's growing!

Please support us and sign up for the remaining three sessions - there's room, and you'd be welcome! To join, you can either fill in this form https://forms.gle/3hESEJ5GepbPhu6g7 OR just email us - email address in comments.

Huge thanks to The Environment Centre and Local Places for Nature for making this possible and the brilliant Ami Marsden and Nigel Simpson (who's also our go-to carpenter) for organising and running the sessions! :)

If you fancy joining us to build some planters for our building, we need some help!!

We want to green up our 'concrete corridors', and to kick that off, we're running FOUR planter making workshops this month. The end result will help reflect how much love we have for the building AND increase biodiversity, as well as providing a little community food growing space.

You can sign up to join in every Thursday in March, 10am-2pm!
The 7th, 14th and 21st are age 18+ only, and the 28th adults can bring children with them.

If you're interested you can either fill in this form https://forms.gle/3hESEJ5GepbPhu6g7 OR just email us - email address in comments.

It'll be better if you're there :) - you can help us by sharing this post, even if you can't join in yourself. Thanks!

IMAGE: the slope up to our main door, looking very plant-free!

Our thanks to The Environment Centre and Local Places for Nature for making this possible!

Cheers to Swansea Council for supporting us with an investment in our incredible building, the former St Luke's Church in Cwmbwrla. Buying it was a very big step for a small charity, and it's funding like this that makes development possible. We bought it in 2019, opened it in October 2021 and have been making improvements continually ever since.

This specific funding is supporting us to make repairs to our tower/spire and 'second space' valley, and commissioning a feasibility study to test our ideas and inspire new thoughts for their future use. It's a brilliant combination and we'll make it go a long way!

Huge thanks to Swansea Council and the UK Government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund!

Awesome afternoon yesterday for LOVE CIRCUS, on again today 1-4pm if you missed it. Aerial, hand skills, stilts, badge making, juggling ball making, refreshments. All FREE!!!

LOVE CIRCUS? We do, and we want to share our love! Our building will be open to all from 1-4pm on the 15th and 16th of February. We will have our Youth Circus members on hand to demonstrate and teach circus skills, there will be arts and crafts and refreshments. Best of all, it's FREE!
Under 18s must bring a responsible adult.
Timetable: 1-2pm Wheels and aerial, 2-3pm Stilts and hand skills, 3-4pm share and show off.

BUBBLE CIRCUS DATES!!! Hi all, we have our first session of the New Year on Sunday 7th with Bubble Circus, 2-4pm. An opportunity to learn and play as a family or "bubble". Please fill in the form before coming (you only have to do this once) - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPSjdG6WGUkkSlbi_3Tnyxfp0JOtzinKwa32vXL6Rzr6hLNw/viewform?usp=sf_link

For dates for the rest of the term please see the flyer....

Hope to see you there!

TODAY!!!! Circus is for everyone- not just children, come along and see!

NEW! Aged 60+ and want to try something new? Come along to our free circus taster sessions starting in Swansea at Circus Eruption, on Thursdays 7th and 14th December 2023. Suitable for total beginners and all welcome! Enjoy Swansea CIRCUS ERUPTION

**Funding Kitchen** is the quarterly(ish) peer support group for anyone involved in fundraising for Swansea third sector organisations!

We move around, but the next meeting is at SCVS offices, Walter Road on Thurs 7th December, 10-12. Previously we've covered topics like legacies and corporate networking, and all who are responsible for local nonprofit fundraising are welcome.

We organise this (CIRCUS ERUPTION) - it's helpful if you let us know you're coming by filling in this form https://forms.gle/cdEGqFzAPCx9a7ey9 - we'll fill the kettle accordingly :)!

Funding Kitchen - Thurs 7th Dec - 10-12 Funding Kitchen is the regular peer support group for anyone responsible for fundraising in charities (or other nonprofits) in the Swansea area. We meet up approx. once a quarter. We share news and info, chat through fundraising opportunities and challenges - this time we'll be looking at the draft....