SPRING THEATER & ARTS PREVIEW

cruiting diverse sta should continue to be a focus and conversation.”

Andrews says, “As a group we’ve sort of pivoted to ‘OK, we can create our own opportunities, right?’” BCAM fully self-produces their shows but recognizes that the circus community in Chicago and beyond is showing up, both as an enthusiastic audience and with concrete means of support. “CSAW [Circus Students Around the World], they’ve been a meaningful benefactor in supporting our recent show financially,” Andrews notes. CSAW has awarded $43,500 in funding to 32 di erent BIPOC circus artists since 2020 when they o cially became a nonprofit. That included a special $2,000 grant that CSAW provided to BCAM in order to help them pay for the expenses of producing their Black History Month Cabaret. CSAW also provides microgrants for U.S. Circus Artists of Color, a program that awards $1,000 every month for a year to individual BIPOC circus artists. Since September 2020, 26 microgrants have been awarded.

Along with CSAW providing production funding (and Aloft and Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Fest providing the venues), the local social circus organization CircEsteem acts as a fiscal sponsor for BCAM, allowing them to operate as a nonprofit. Rooney notes that this arrangement “takes a lot of administrative burden o of us so we can focus on the mission.”

Plans for the future include expanding their administrative roles so that the founders don’t burn out and looking for new opportunities for the organization. Rooney says that although his love of being a performer keeps him rooted in that process of creation, he also sees potential for BCAM to reach beyond performance only. “I love mentoring and helping others. . . . We’ve talked about having BCAM host or sponsor open gyms, so that feels like a more casual space for cotraining to happen and community to be made and to just share space.”

Andrews, who has a background in theater and dramaturgy, hints at the potential for show development to “get a little more structure in place and then create a container for ourselves to have spaces to develop with the same consistent core group of people.” To date, their performances have been act-based cabarets, but she says, “Every time we do a show, we ask ourselves, ‘Do we want a narrative through line here? Do we want to explore a central theme or topic?’ And usually, in the interest of time and schedules, it just made more sense to go with the cabaret format. But that would be a really interesting future exploration for us to actually ask ourselves, ‘How are we weaving the stories that we all want to tell together into a story to then share?’”

Rooney has further ideas to help BIPOC artists network. He’d like to create a nationwide database. “Then if you’re trying to bring in performers, you could access this database and say, ‘OK, here’s an awesome POC artist who could perform with us.’ I think the sourcing of BIPOC talent and the connecting between organizations looking for performers and the talent they may not always find is a beautiful connection we can help make. Because we want to make those connections and create a pathway for people that may not otherwise have the visibility.”

Okolo agrees that more visibility for BIPOC circus artists is a key mission for BCAM. “I would love to see circus performers of color at the forefront of circus. I would love more spaces for performers of color to create shows, acts, and to express themselves in ways the circus world hasn’t seen yet. Ultimately, I would love it if when people think of circus, the image they see is diverse!”