Youth circus sticks the landing to run Circus Oz centre
The national youth circus will take over the operation of one of Australia's biggest circus training centres, originally built for Circus Oz.
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australia's only full-time circus school for primary and secondary students, will operate the site at Collingwood in Melbourne, the Victorian government announced on Friday.
The company is based in Albury-Wodonga and tours internationally, with graduates working in top global circuses such as Cirque du Soleil.
It makes Flying Fruit Fly Circus the biggest operator of professional circus facilities in Australia, according to chief executive Richard Hull.
The company entered a public tender to run the site, in part to ensure it would not be repurposed, he said.
"It's about being able to secure an amazing circus facility in Melbourne for our sector and for our circus community," said Hull.
"Our concern was that through this tender process, it could have been easily lost to another art form or another use altogether."
The government-owned facility was originally built with Circus Oz and opened in 2014. In 2021, Circus Oz lost millions in ongoing government funding as part of the National Performing Arts Framework.
The once-successful company was wound down, losing staff and cancelling projects, and has since been run on a much reduced scale.
Access to the Melbourne facility for the rest of the circus community has also been limited, creating frustration and further controversy in the industry.
It has not been available for hire at all since around March.
Circus Oz will remain a tenant in the building, which will be named Circus Centre Melbourne.
"This will be a game-changer that opens up this facility while offering programs that will strengthen the sector and support the next generation of performing artists," Creative Industries Minister Colin Brooks said.
The hope is to use the facility to develop a world-class circus hub to rival Quebec, where Cirque du Soleil is based, and for Melbourne to regain the crown as the creative centre of Australian contemporary circus.
"Circus is a very needy art form, it requires big spaces with lots of height, very expensive equipment, and a very rigorous culture of safety, you can't just do it anywhere," said Hull.
For the Flying Fruit Fly Circus the move is its biggest expansion since its founding in 1979. It will recruit a Melbourne-based team to run the centre, but its full time circus school will remain in Albury.
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