Philadelphia Contemporary Circus Festival to Debut This May

Philadelphia Contemporary Circus Festival will make its debut this May 23 to June 1, 2025, with 10 days, 24+ shows, dozens of artists and two states. This brand new major arts festival will debut in the birthplace of American circus, Philadelphia! The festival will take over venues throughout Old City and both the Pennsylvania and the New Jersey sides of the Delaware Waterfront. PCCF will showcase and connect local, national and international circus artists to audiences in Philadelphia and New Jersey for two weeks of thrilling and dazzling programming. The line-up will include performances and workshops by emerging and established artists and companies around the country and beyond - including acts from the United States, Canada and France. Tickets are on sale now at FringeArts dot com and by calling the FringeArts Box Office at 215-413-1318. Connect on social and follow @phillycontemporarycircusfest @fringearts @circadiumschool.

Over 10 days, audiences can enjoy new productions that showcase creative movement, athletic skill, and engaging storytelling through circus arts, celebrating and expanding the extraordinary circus community. Events will include no charge public performances, workshops for families and circus/dance/theater artists, and paid performances. The lineup includes more than two dozen shows, workshops and events at venues around Philadelphia and South Jersey. Venues will include PHILADELPHIA: Christ Church Neighborhood House, FringeArts, Cherry Street Pier and NEW JERSEY:  Trenton Circus Squad Tent in Cooper Poynt's Park.

This new festival is being spearheaded by Circadium School of Contemporary Circus and FringeArts, with managing support from Cannonball, with additional partnership from  Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, Airplay Entertainment, Rebel Arts, Trenton Circus Squad, Circus Forge, Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, American Circus Alliance, Secret Circus Philadelphia, Wahoo Trapeze, Stage Lync Pro, and Tangle Aerial Dance Theater.

Shana Kennedy, who serves on PCCF’s Executive Committee, has been working to build contemporary circus projects in Philadelphia for many years. She is the Executive Director of Circadium School of Contemporary Circus in West Mt. Airy. Circadium's partnership with FringeArts dates back to 2018, when FringeArts started the Hand-to-Hand Circus festival, the precursor program to PCCF.  

"The Hand-to-Hand Festival expanded my understanding of a festival's role in the growth of an art form," she says. "I always knew that the students graduating from Circadium would need places to perform, but a festival is a way of clearly aligning the needs of emerging artists, presenters, and audiences."

This year, FringeArts and Circadium have re-envisioned Hand-to-Hand as a bigger, community-driven festival, with more partners and venues. Shana was excited to organize a team of volunteers to dream up new possibilities. As the circus community in Philadelphia has grown significantly over the past decade, the re-named Philadelphia Contemporary Circus Festival could now expand to include the vision and contributions of many more people.

"Circus artists and audience members will be coming to Philadelphia from all over the East Coast," Shana notes. "Festivals like this are few and far between - there are only a couple of others like it in the United States. But contemporary circus is on the rise all over the world. People are discovering the amazing possibilities of circus as an expressive art form. They'll see a lot of that in this festival!"