Roll up, roll up!

Once upon a time, a teenage boy ran away to join the circus. It sounds like the start of a fairy story, but that’s pretty much what happened to Joe Fearn. He landed a summer job in a circus aged eighteen and discovered a magical place where unique people come from all over the world to share their skills and become part of a strange and eclectic family. He lived the circus lifestyle for the next eleven years, attending circus school, travelling the globe and honing his skills. 

However, Joe never lost touch with his Birmingham roots and three years ago decided to return and put his talent to good use by establishing a circus community in his home city. From a few informal classes, CircusMASH quickly grew and expanded. Now run by him and his partner, it has brought circus skills to over eight thousand people, and is now involved in a huge range of activities, such as youth programmes, workshops, classes and school visits. They are also working with Solihull College to develop units on aerial skills for Performing Arts BTEC courses. 

CircusMASH is not a charity, but community involvement is at the heart of their work. Joe believes that charitable status would put too many restrictions on what they can offer, and they are willing to forego the potential tax breaks in order to keep control of something they feel so passionate about. 

Their next big adventure is creating a centre where they can bring all their activities together in a purpose built setting. They’ve been fundraising since March through events, private donations, raffles and crowd funding to raise enough money to convert the remaining section of the old All Saints Centre in Kings Heath. Joe is optimistic that they’ll be inviting people to ‘Roll up, roll up!’ in early 2015.

“We love what we do,” he explains, “Our ethos is to change mindsets and gear young people towards a positive future through circus arts.” Joe Fearn may have come back home, but he’s still very much the boy who ran away to join the circus.

To find out more about CircusMASH visit their website.

 Published in My Moseley and Kings Heath magazine, October 2014

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