BCA Founders Eric, Chris, Kaitlyn, and Amanda address the audience after the BCA’s 2023 Black History Month Circus Cabaret in Chicago
The BCA started in 2020 when a small group of us got together over a Zoom call to discuss the circus community’s response to the George Floyd murder.
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We saw circus organizations in Chicago and across the Midwest standing up for Black Lives and wanting to dismantle the seen and unseen barriers that limit participation for People of Color in the circus arts. But many were not sure how to go about reflecting on their own practices and policies that support these barriers. As practitioners already existing in these spaces, we knew we could help.
We started as a Midwest based organization and called ourselves the BIPOC Circus Alliance Midwest (BCAM). Since then we’ve been collaborating, educating, performing, and growing… so we are dropping the “M” and re-introducing ourselves as the BIPOC Circus Alliance, a nationwide collective of BIPOC circus artists and educators!
BIPOC Circus Alliance Mission Statement
The BIPOC Circus Alliance (BCA) is a collective of circus practitioners and performing artists dedicated to creating more supportive, inclusive, and representative circus communities by:
1) Advocating for equity and inclusion in training, teaching, and performance spaces
2) Partnering with circus organizations to implement policy changes designed to increase BIPOC representation and inclusion within customers/students and staff
3) Celebrating and amplifying BIPOC stories in circus
4) Creating community, support, and mutual positive encouragement for BIPOC circus practitioners and performers