"The Board of Circus Oz has announced its intention to wind up the company.
In a statement released overnight, the Board stated it had failed to reach an
agreement with the Company Members of Circus Oz over a decision to reform the
company’s governance structure."
https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/circus-oz-to-wind-up-2519744/
"Established in December 1977, Circus Oz showed the world Australia was unique,
Australians were capable of doing incredible things, and they had something
special to offer on the world stage."
<
https://theconversation.com/circus-oz-is-to-close-after-44-years-they-irrevocably-changed-australian-circus-and-brought-it-to-the-world-173586>
"Details of the shock decision to close Circus Oz are emerging as circus
company members meet to try to save the revolutionary 44-year-old troupe, which
started as an artist collective and put Australia’s larrikin spirit on the
world stage.
On Friday, the board of Circus Oz released a statement saying the members of
the company had voted to reject reforms proposed by its funding partners –
choosing instead to wind up its operations.
Former artistic director and co-CEO Mike Finch, who is one of the company
members, said the wording of the announcement “failed to respect the intentions
of the owners of the company” and had caused a day of “pain and confusion”.
If the company winds up as proposed, 23 employees will lose their jobs, and
more than 100 circus artists will lose access to the building and contracted
work for their recently announced Melbourne show Everything But the Circus and
other planned 2022 shows.
“We are all feeling shocked,” Finch said. “I’ve seen messages posted that
people are in tears because they think the membership agreed to close the
company and that the members have let the artists down and now they are losing
their jobs.
“This is not correct. We certainly did not vote for the company to close. The
members voted overwhelmingly for artists and workers to stay in control of the
company,” he said. “This has been a coordinated attack on democracy in the
arts, and it’s largely coming from people who don’t actually work in the arts,
and certainly not in circus.
“We all want to save the company – but to save the company, we must also save
its soul, otherwise it is an empty shell.”"
<
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/dec/11/what-went-wrong-at-circus-oz-the-story-behind-the-veteran-companys-devastating-downfall>
I have seen them many times over the years, right from the start. Truly one of
the world’s great circuses.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
