Grant #212

Circus Harmony

October 3, 2016

Circus Harmony tackles impossible human feats of contortion and acrobatics — but with a special sauce that’s changing lives.

The circus: smells of cotton candy and popcorn, red-and-white striped tents, fanciful clowns, and fierce, fire-jumping lions. But this is no ordinary circus. This is a different type of circus — one that’s WAY more awesome, in our humble opinion.

It’s called Circus Harmony. Sure, they teach circus skills like juggling, clowning, and acting; acrobatics, contortion, unicycle, and aerial arts (check out these videos). But they’re not all about entertainment. In fact, their real MO is using the circus arts as a means to an end: teaching life skills to at-risk youth. Through Circus Harmony’s programs, the youth of St. Louis are learning resiliency, collaboration, determination, and responsibility. And guess what? It’s changing their lives. (Who knew juggling could be so profound?)

Here at the Awesome Without Borders, we want to help Circus Harmony do even more of their awesome work by expanding and replacing their equipment. Think aerial silks (pretty!), carabiners (you’ve seen them used as key chains), and petzl swivels (yeah, we didn’t know what they were either). With these updates, Circus Harmony’s aerial program will have a chance to expand and flourish in ways not yet seen before. And it’s going to be amazing!!
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT AWESOMENESS!

After 11+ years, we’re signing off and closing applications for good. We’ve supported 571 projects with $571,000 in grant dollars. We’re so proud to have celebrated such incredible work. Please visit https://www.awesomefoundation.org/ for more information on other AWESOME chapters! And thanks for sharing so much awesomeness with us.

Cheers,
Team Awesome Without Borders