£10,000 funding for circus performers

One of the Skylight performers does some club juggling on stilts.

A group of Rochdale circus performers are celebrating after being awarded more than £10,000 from the youth opportunities fund.

Skylight Circus’s youth forum members will use the money to develop the circus and performing skills of a group of 13-19 year olds.

Cath Rushton, project coordinator, said: "We are so proud of the energy and enthusiasm the young people have put into this project. They took their ideas and then made them happen.

"The whole process of applying for the money has been an empowering experience for the young people and has given them real ownership of the project."

The young people applied to the Youth Opportunities Fund to help them to produce a high quality circus performance that will be shown at local and national events over the summer.

The first performance is at the ‘Zircus festival’ in Barrow this weekend (Saturday and Sunday 30 & 31 May). The young people will be performing amongst a line up of professional artists and after each performance they will help to run workshops for the general public.

The Skylight performers are also set to perform at the ‘Feel good’ festival in the town centre and at ‘Blend’ the youth arts event at Middleton arena.

The money they received will fund a director, a musician, a make up artist and a regular Friday evening session where the youngsters can practice tight rope, trapeze, unicycle and globe acts.

The money will also pay for a freestanding trapeze rig that can be taken out to events where more people will be able to see them performing incredible feats in the air.