Photo courtesy of the Circus Arts Conservatory.

While things may be winding down for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, there remain countless job prospects for performers trained in the circus arts, according to Jennifer Mitchell, managing director of The Circus Arts Conservatory. While hearts were heavy on the news of the biggest brand in the big top business calling it quits, Mitchell says there is no reason to despair for the art itself. “This is simply a new evolution in the circus, and we’ve seen it over the past couple decades,” she says.

The Conservatory through its various summer and after-school programs sees hundreds of students every year interested in learning a variety of crafts from acrobatics to high-wire. Right now, 105 students are enrolled in the after-school Sailor Circus, which runs eight months in the year, and about 700 students are expected to enroll in summer camp. Of course, most of these students desire a circus experience or activity, not necessarily a career, but the skills learned can be used in a variety of live performance work, be it on the road, at these parks or a growing number of other options. Only about 10 percent of graduates of the conservancy go into the circus industry itself.

And even in that industry, Mitchell notes that Ringling Bros., while a major name, hasn’t been the biggest employer in circus for years. Canada-based Cirque de Soleil carries that title; the European-style troupe has a permanent show in Orlando on the Walt Disney World Resort.

Mitchell also notes that while the closing of the Ringling Bros. circus, which means the loss of 400 jobs including about 60 based at the Palmetto headquarters for owner Feld Entertainment, will be felt in the local job market, the circus has only been completely headquartered on the Gulf Coast relatively recently. The region’s history includes tremendous ties to the circus because John Ringling, one of the founders of the Ringling Bros. Circus, moved the winter headquarters to Sarasota in 1927 and then to Venice in 1959, but shifted operations north to Tampa in 1990. Only when Feld Entertainment consolidated much of its operations onto an expansive campus in Palmetto in 2012 did the year-round headquarters for the circus come to this area.

Ringling’s proximity didn’t lead the conservatory to open. Formed as the National Circus School of Performing Arts in 1997 and then becoming Circus Sarasota, the organization in 2013 took the name The Circus Arts Conservatory. Sailor Circus operated as an entity of the Police Athletic League for decades before it was purchased by the conservatory five years ago. “Since taking over Sailor Circus we’ve seen the programming blossom and grow,” she says. “We’ve seen a change in the audience to where it’s less about spectating and observing and more about engaging and doing."

Photo courtesy of the Circus Arts Conservatory.