We need your help to get this show out there and around the country Be a Brave Space Sponsor.
When I started making Brave Space, I was so tired of waking up to depressing news stories, and going to bed freaked out after watching the Handmaid’s Tale...I felt a need in myself and my community for something that was the antidote to all that heaviness and daily cultural betrayal. To create a show that is an embodiment of community responsibility and trust, I decided to put aside all worries about financial viability. I wanted to make a show that felt like a hug, but that also made the audience feel, on a physical level, how important we all are to each other, in every moment of our lives. How our choices to support or not support people at risk can affect all of us. I wanted to make a show that felt like a world where everyone says yes to trust, support and vulnerability.
So that we can have a personal connection with each person who attends Brave Space, we need to keep the show small...unfortunately, that also means that this show will likely never, ever turn a profit. Part of my responsibility as a producer and director, is to be sure that the artists in the show are well taken care of. When I am asking someone to put themselves in scary situations for my art, I can’t ask them to do that for cheap. I want to be sure that they are comfortable when we drive from city to city, so that they can show up on site ready to do their very best and safest work. To ensure this, Aloft has purchased a really cool bus, with plenty of room for 7 people to stretch, rest and relax between shows. Plus a fridge and a microwave...cuz circus artists gotta eat. Plus, I’m committed to paying the artists a rate competitive with any other contract they might receive...I mean, I want to keep them around! But...with only 100 people buying tickets to any given show...you can see where the challenge comes in.
And that’s where you can come in! You can help Brave Space by sponsoring our tour with a tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas donation! Various donor levels and perks are available...from $25 for some Aloft swag up to $500 to get your logo on our tour van, which will be driving to circus schools all around the country, and to parks across Chicago! You can even get a shoutout on our instructional video that we send to every audience member before the show! That’s over 2000 people hearing about what an awesome supporter of out-of-the-box, weird, risky performance art and circus you are.
In supporting Brave Space, you aren’t just supporting one company’s tour. You see, in conjunction with booking a spring and summer tour for Brave Space, I am also creating the DIY Circus Touring Network. Based on the punk rock ethos I came of age in, where bands jumped in a van and drove around to little secret venues around the country, I decided to use that same thinking to help small circus companies get their work out there! So, as we book our tour, I am creating and sharing resources to help other companies do the same. I will be sharing what I learn on a Facebook group called the DIY Circus Touring Network, creating a database of venues where circus artists can perform around the country, holding workshops on how other companies can harness this model, and, eventually, publishing a How-to guide!
You can give your tax-deductible donation here: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=4441
