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  • 24.06.2016

    Big Apple Circus in danger of folding its tent forever

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      By Jane K. Dove


      The Big Apple Circus is looking for a financial miracle to prevent the circus from closing up shop.

      The Big Apple Circus, now midway through its 38th season, is in danger of folding its tent for the last time if they do not cover a $2 million shortfall within the next two weeks.

      The circus is a New York institution, getting its start in a small tent at Battery Park and then pitching a larger tent behind Lincoln Center. From its inception, the Big Apple Circus was different from other circuses. Its single tent and smaller scale allowed for a more intimate audience viewing experience and its acrobats, aerialists, clowns, jugglers, and domestic and rescue animal acts were up close and personal.

      From the beginning, The Big Apple Circus focused on diversity, drawing its performers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.

      Help needed quickly

      Local resident Jenny Muller reached out to The Ledger last week for help publicizing the plight of the circus. Muller lives on the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation with her husband, a semi-retired Westchester County parks employee, and is close friends with the Big Apple Circus head equine director Jenny Vidbel.

      “I think of the Big Apple Circus as a circus with a heart,” Muller told The Ledger on Sunday. “They take very good care of their animals, look out for performers and provide a variety of outreach programs to the community. It is also a circus like no other in terms of its high degree of sophistication and artful production.”

      Muller said the Big Apple Circus had a healthy revenue stream for years, peaking at $19 million annually in 2007 before declining to $14 million recently. Things started to unravel with the impact of 9/11, the 2008 financial crash, followed by Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon tragedy.

      “These all happened in the circuses own back yard and did a lot of damage,” Muller said. “For example, Big Apple had a long-running engagement in Boston at the time of the Marathon and that collapsed, taking its revenue along with it.”

      Muller said that up until this sequence of events, The Big Apple Circus had been doing well, putting on regular performances up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

      “But our corporate money began to take a deep dive, with fewer and fewer bookings of entire performances. The circus is now booked into Lincoln Center for three months beginning Oct. l9, and running through Jan. 8, but may not live to see it without immediate financial relief,” she said.

      When asked by The Ledger if she thought the recent public censure against using large non-domestic and wild animals in circuses had impacted attendance at the Big Apple Circus, Muller said that it had definitely had to some extent but the fall-off in corporate support was the greater cause of its financial problems.

      Kind approach

      Jenny Vidbel is key to the success of the Big Apple Circus, housing, training and caring for its animal performers on her large farm in upstate New York between performances.

      Vidbel has 30 horses, nine dogs and two pigs that she has trained for the circus. Her grandparents were both circus performers and animal trainers and she inherited the property from them when they passed.

      “Many of the animals I train come out of shelters or have been neglected or abused,” Vidbel said.  “It’s sometimes not easy, but I love working with them. The Big Apple Circus knows their circumstances and does not demand difficult or dangerous feats from them. They realize they are things of beauty with individual personalities.”

      Vidbel said patience and gentleness are the hallmarks of her training methods.

      “I use praise, pats and edible treats and form strong bonds of trust and mutual understanding,” she said. “The physical feats seen by the audience are simply extensions and refinements of natural movements and behavior. Nothing is forced. With my horses, I can have a dozen working smoothly and happily together at any one time. They are creatures of beauty and a joy to behold.”

      Dogs provide a lot of fun for Vidbel during training. “We do a lot of jumping through hoops, agility exercises, and leaping up high to play catch.  Nothing dangerous and nothing they don’t really enjoy.”

      And the pigs?  “Only one of the pigs is currently in action and his job is to unroll the carpet for my act,” she said.

      Community outreach

      Despite its declining finances, the Big Apple Circus still maintains a full slate of community outreach activities.

      “We have Clown Cares for hospitalized children at 14 leading pediatric facilities, Circus of the Senses, special free performances for children with hearing vision and other impairments and Circus After School, for at-risk youth to develop life-enhancing skills through a structured program of learning and performing the circus arts,” she said.

      The Big Apple Circus also mounts Vaudeville Caravan, bringing the joy and wonder of the circus to seniors in residential care, using music, juggling, magic and improvisational theatre to bring the experience back to them. Another outreach program, Circus for All, provides free, discounted and subsidized tickets to schools serving disadvantaged children.

      Now or never

      Vidbel said preparations for the upcoming Lincoln Center engagement were set to begin shortly but could not move ahead without an infusion of cash.

      “We need to raise $2 million, and quickly,” she said. “A recent New York Times article helped us raise several hundred thousand dollars, but we still need another $1.5 million. An anonymous donor has pledged to donate $10,000 if 1,000 people donate to save the circus within the coming days.”

      Vidbel said she is optimistic the Big Apple Circus will survive. “I can’t imagine us going out of business,” she said “Our artists are from all over the world, some coming to us from Cirque du Soleil. We are a sophisticated, gorgeous, humane show backed by a seven-piece live orchestra.  We are New York-born and I hope that our unique approach to the circus will move people to help us be saved.”

      To help save the Big Apple Circus, visit SavetheCircus.org.  And keep in mind that the clock is ticking.

      http://www.lewisboroledger.com/37499/big-apple-circus-in-danger-of-folding-its-tent-forever/