Circus Smirkus: Listening, learning, leaning into action
September 18, 2026 | By Rachel Schiffer
Editor’s note: The following is from a recent newsletter to supporters and fans by Circus Smirkus Executive Director Rachel Schiffer. It comes at the end of the first summer that the nonprofit youth circus did not run its Big Top Tour.
Circus Smirkus performers at a show in Middlebury in 2025. File photo by Elise Coyle
September is a funny month of both finding closure and finding newness. The summer camp season has now fully wrapped up, including our Fall Family Camp over Labor Day weekend. Props and equipment have been cleaned up and stored, and both Smirkus Camp and Smirkus Headquarters are in the early stages of being shut down for the winter when the school residency program takes center ring.
As we close down camp, we also ramp up the work of setting ourselves up for success in the years to come. If August is about debriefing and learning, September is about careful planning and how to put those plans into action with attention and care.
This year, with our 40th anniversary on the horizon and long-term strategic planning underway, those plans feel especially important. Thanks to your participation in April’s survey and this summer’s community conversations, we have data and feedback from you, the Smirkus community, to help guide us.
And it is due time that we share an update on what we’ve heard from you, learned from you and how we’re responding. There were three main takeaways:
The Big Top Tour matters deeply, and is one aspect of our uniqueness.
75% ranked preserving the touring circus aspect of our programming as one of the most important things to preserve.
96% said that keeping our focus on youth and circus arts training is vital to Smirkus’ mission.
To share one comment: “A Smirkus show is special because of the experience in its entirety; the tent, the performers practicing outside the trailers and gathering of groups before the show, the smells and sights - all of it. Seeing the earnest striving of every single person, knowing that all of what's brought out each performance is born of true passion and dedication. It's an extraordinary thing to experience in this age of hyper curated, polished and frankly fake feeling encounters. Smirkus is the best of the sensory immersion that we all need and crave.”
The board is committed to preserving the Big Top Tour. We have examined our finances and operations, looked at the data, worked through different possibilities for the future of the tour, and addressed risk mitigation and safety challenges with modified and improved systems including reducing the number of sites we visit and the length of time we stay in one place.
We are now in the final stages of confirming a tour model that we intend to launch in 2027, if we are able to raise sufficient funds.
We need to rebuild trust
Some of you asked for greater transparency. Some shared concerns about decisions we’ve made. Many of you are concerned with the safety of our performers, coaches, and staff.
Another survey comment: “Few experiences asked so much of young people while giving so much in return. I hope the conversation continues with room for both accountability and perspective.”
We agree that the only way to rebuild trust and a stronger culture of safety is with increased transparency and willingness to listen. We have begun what we hope will be a series of community conversations hosted throughout the year and talking to more of you more frequently. We want to continue that cadence and candor. We are also looking closely at how that feedback should change the way we work not only around rigging, but around the broader culture of safety and care at Smirkus.
In early 2026 we assembled a six-member Rigging and Safety Task Force with the charge to make Smirkus rigging safer now and build better systems for the future. They have a combined 50+ years of senior rigging leadership and hold industry certifications in theatrical rigging, rope access, first aid, and fall protection.
This summer at camp, they reviewed and approved rigging plans, advised on equipment purchases, rope, and splicing methods, and provided an independent onsite review of the completed installation. We also strengthened staff training and introduced a more formal rigging sign-off process, increasing awareness and shared knowledge among everyone using equipment and spaces.
Alongside that work, we created clearer channels for campers and staff to raise concerns, with greater accountability for making sure those concerns are heard and addressed.
These same principles are shaping the proposed tour model, which builds in more time for rest and recovery, access to health resources, and opportunities to learn about health, safety, and performer self-care. We are also continuing to examine our go/no-go and performer protocols so that troupers are empowered to speak up when something does not feel safe and so that we have clear and accountable processes for listening and responding when they do.
Smirkus changes lives
Circus Smirkus improves and enriches lives. So many of you shared testimonials of how your lives, or the lives of your children, were indelibly changed by our programming.
From our survey: “Smirkus has given my child dozens of mentors and given him the chance to mentor younger kids. He has made the kind of friends who become family. He has learned to problem-solve in real time and deliver when others are relying on him -- be that his peers, his coaches, or the audience. He has learned how to learn, setting goals for himself and working to achieve them. To prospective parents, I would say: whether or not you want your child to become a circus professional, you probably want your child to have these traits!”
It is our responsibility to uphold, continue, and build on this impact. We have work to do to improve and expand the impact for participants and the communities we engage with, and we are energized to continue that outreach.
We'll be sharing more of this work with you in the weeks and months ahead. We want to be more open about our process, what we're learning, what we're considering. We want to hear from you along the way and to give you a window into the “backstage” work that goes into building the future of Smirkus.
We're grateful for your trust, your candor, and your belief in Smirkus. Thank you for being a part of the adventure and process.
Rachel Schiffer is executive and artistic director for Circus Smirkus.