Outreach

RUN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS!

The Women’s Circus Outreach Program takes circus to the world! The program can deliver:

WORKSHOPS: One-off & long-term workshops to schools, community organisations & workplaces

ROVING PERFORMERS: Who provide moving entertainment at various events

STATIC PERFORMERS: Who present a specific performance piece at events

SPEAKERS: Who can provide further information about the Circus

The Outreach Program works to build relationships with external organisations and deliver programs to a diverse group of participants. Significant partnerships include Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital Eating Disorders Unit, Gilmore Girls College and Art Beat. The Outreach Program has worked closely with VicHealth since 2006 to evaluate and improve its work.

Workshops are taught by highly skilled and experienced members of the Circus. The Outreach Program provides professional pathways and employment opportunities for our members.

To contact the Women’s Circus about an Outreach project, roving or static performers, or presenting at a conference or forum, please contact Sandra on (03) 9687 3665 or at outreach@womenscircus.org.au.

Recent Outreach Projects

Gilmore Girls College: July - Oct 2007

Women’s Circus and local girls high school, Gilmore Girls College at Footscray, formed a partnership to integrate circus arts into the school curriculum to provide an integrated learning strategy and improve student motivation, engagement and wellbeing.

Funded by the William Buckland Foundation, the three year project involves the participation of all young women at Year 9 level in a unique circus program that offers students an opportunity to participate in an alternative model of education. A team of teachers across a range of subject areas at the Year 9 level will work with Francesca Sculli, Women’s Circus Outreach Director, and Outreach Trainers from the Women’s Circus. The three year project involves a team of teachers across a range of subject areas at the Year 9 level working with Outreach Director Francesca Sculli and Women’s Circus Outreach Trainers to provide an integrated learning strategy.

Why Year 9? Research has shown that Year 9 students are experiencing increasing physical and mental health problems. While a sense of connectedness or attachment to school has been found to enhance students’ resilience, increasing disengagement with school is a characteristic of Year 9 level students. With the establishment of a Women’s Circus program at this level, we aim to provide a strong experiential and motivational focus to engage the girls at Gilmore College. Year 9 students are unique in educational needs - the OECD finds successful learning occurs when the learner has high levels of confidence and self esteem, is strongly motivated to learn and is able to learn in an environment characterised by “high challenge” coupled with “low threat.”

Gilmore Girls College is situated in central Footscray, Melbourne and has a population of 350 students drawn from the western and Northern suburbs. It is not a ‘neighbourhood school’ in that its population is largely drawn from suburbs outside of Footscray; Northcote, Preston, Carlton and Werribee. Women’s Circus has a philosophy of acceptance and seeks to create a respectful and supportive environment where people can experience something that may be radically different to anything else they have ever tried. The language is supportive, not critical, and fun and participation is more highly valued than the outcome of a routine.

Royal Melbourne Hospital Eating Disorders Unit: July - Aug 2007

The treatment team at Royal Melbourne Hospital Eating Disorders Unit had observed an increase in “excessive exercise” of their patients as a means of trying to achieve or maintain very low weight. In May 2007, the Eating Disorders Unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital approached Women’s Circus to solve this dilemma and support patients with “excessive exercise symptoms” and a five-week pilot project was collaboratively developed.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital, North Western Mental Health, Day Patient Program, provides a comprehensive public eating disorders program with inpatient, day patient, out patient and consultation components. The Day Patient Program is an intensive, rehabilitative treatment option for people suffering from an eating disorder (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and EDNOS) and staff include a dietician, psychologist and program coordinator. The increase in “excessive exercise” to achieve or or maintain low weight by Day Patients in the Unit coupled with the compulsive nature of this aspect of the disorder generally meant that staff needed to set guidelines recommending very low levels of exercise. However, this was a dilemma, since a moderate level of exercise is useful in promoting wellbeing and building social and recreational interests.

The project’s workshops took place at Women’s Circus once a week, with Outreach Trainers Francesca Sculli and Jenny Macleod. With each workshop evaluated and further developed by trainers and Hospital staff, as well as formal evaluation by VicHealth on its completion, the pilot project was deemed a success by both the participants and staff. Jani White, Royal Melbourne Hospital Eating Disorders Unit Day Patient Coordinator, said “Women’s Circus contributed to a new and clear understanding about the role of exercise in both maintaining their illness and treating it.”

International Conference in Community Arts and Theatre, Taiwan: Oct 2006

In October 2006, Women’s Circus was invited to present at an international Community Arts and Theatre Conference in Taiwan and run a series of circus workshops with women in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Outreach Director Francesca Sculli, along with Outreach Trainers Sara Pheasant, Sal Frances and Bianca Sciaretta, and did a presentation to the conference in conjunction with a short performance by one of the outreach workshop groups. The conference presentation was concluded by an open forum where participants at the conference could ask questions.

One woman stood up in tears, took the microphone and via a translator spoke of her hope and her heart by watching these extraordinary women perform. She said that the fact that these women could stand up in front of an audience and use their bodies in a strong and positive way and gave her hope for her own voice, “watching these women gives me courage, hope and strength, they are my mother, my sister, and they are me.”