OUR MISSION
Circus Harmony teaches the art of life through circus education. We work to build character and expand community for youth of all ages, cultures, abilities and backgrounds. Through the teaching and performing of circus arts, we help people defy gravity, soar with confidence, and leap over social barriers, all at the same time.
OUR METHODS
Circus Harmony is a non-profit social circus organization that uses circus arts to motivate social change. By inspiring individuals and connecting communities with our circus education and entertainment programs, we have a positive impact on the St. Louis area and beyond.
Our programs teach valuable life skills like perseverance, focus, and teamwork. Learning circus with others teaches trust, responsibility and cooperation. Perhaps the most important experience we give our participants is the opportunity to meet and interact with children from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds than their own.
We believe the path to peace is a path of cooperation and communication. Teaching children from different neighborhoods how to stand on each other's shoulders may seem like a strange way to take this path. But it's the technique we use! Circus Harmony promotes peace through pyramids, joy through juggling and harmony through handsprings.
OUR HISTORY
Since 2001, when we brought together Jewish and Muslim children in St. Louis to launch Circus Salaam Shalom, Circus Harmony has used circus arts to inspire individuals and connect communities. In the last ten years, we have developed youth circus troupes which consist of Jewish, Christian, Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American and Asian children from inner city and suburban areas throughout St. Louis. Our pre-professional troupe, the St. Louis Arches is comprised of children of diverse backgrounds. They practice and perform every week in our circus school space at City Museum, in downtown St. Louis. Since 2007, we have partnered with the Galilee Circus— a Jewish/Arab youth circus from Israel!
Since our inception, Circus Harmony has gone from ten students to over 1300 students and from presenting 40 shows a year to over 500 shows a year. We run a year-round circus school at the incredible City Museum. We also offer numerous outreach classes throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. Over 70% of the population we serve are from low-income families. Through the circus school inside of City Museum and our numerous outreach programs, we build character and expand community for more youth of all ages, cultures, abilities and economic backgrounds.
The life skills we learn as children are the tools we take with us into adulthood. If we teach children when they are young to overlook differences and focus on similarities, to focus on working together to fix something rather than abdicating responsibility and blaming others, those skills will result in a more peaceful future.
We are crossing cultural boundaries artistically and socially while improving children's physical, mental and emotional well-being as we fulfill our mission to "help people defy gravity, soar with confidence, and leap over social barriers, all at the same time."
