Cirko – Center for New Circus

Cirko has been promoting and developing Finnish contemporary circus since 2004. Cirko operates in Helsinki, in the historic Suvilahti gasworks area, where Cirko has two studios equipped for circus and a total of 1,400 square meters of work and performance space.

Starting 2025, Cirko has begun disseminating Finnish circus performances.

Cirko is Finland’s most significant artistic development and performance center, where circus artists work all year round. In addition to developing and presenting Finnish contemporary circus, Cirko brings the best of international contemporary circus to its own and partner stages in Finland.

In 2024, Cirko’s season programme consisted of 7 works with 57 artists, 71 performances, an 89% occupancy rate and brought in a record box office intake. At the end of the year the national arts council of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) awarded Cirko with a State Prize for Circus Art.

w/ co-production network

w/ (pronounced with), founded in 2024 by Cirko, is a network of circus presenters in Europe and the UK. The network co-produces one circus performance per year and facilitates tours for the co-produced performances.

The partners in the network are key organisations in their own country or region:

• Bærum Kulturhus, Bærum, Norway
• Chamäleon, Berlin / Germany
• Cirko, Helsinki / Finland
• Dynamo, Odense / Denmark
• La Grainerie, Toulouse / France
• Jackson’s Lane, London / UK
• Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm / Sweden
• Rigas Cirks, Riga / Latvia

The goal of w/ is to become a financially, socially and environmentally sustainable co-production structure that promotes the creation and longevity of outstanding contemporary circus works and benefits both the artists and the network partners.