To our community,
I’ve got some news to share with you.
The Circus Project is starting a big leadership change. Erica Rubinstein will be moving out of the programming leadership role in November (and will remain on staff as a coach). And, I am in my last year as Executive Director and plan to leave this role by June 1, 2022.
We’ve both been thinking about this for a while, as we started at the same time 5 years ago this fall. We’re both ready for new professional challenges and personal changes (and the past year especially has been….draining).
It’s also healthy for the organization -- an opportunity to make space for new leadership, new energy, and new ways of approaching our mission and organizational challenges. Change is good.
The Program Director job opening is posted here. Please help spread the word to those in your life with a combo of expertise in circus education, leading teams, and thinking big picture.
The board will be leading an Executive Director search process, and I’d expect it to start sometime early in the new year. I am hopeful that, with nine months to plan, this can be an opportunity to reassess what leadership model works best for The Circus Project right now. It will also give the board time to be thoughtful about what leadership qualities are needed in this next phase of the organization’s growth, collecting plenty of community input from you along the way.
As I look forward to the next several months, I’m committed to doing all that I can to lay the groundwork for the next generation of leadership to really take things and run with it. I really see this as an opportunity for The Circus Project to define what is needed to make the broader circus arts landscape more equitable. I think this will be a really exciting time, and I’m eager for the organization to begin dreaming forward beyond surviving a pandemic.
If you have ideas for folks who would be great to have at the decision-making table as we explore these big questions let me know. Here’s a link to more information about the board and other volunteer leadership opportunities and how to express interest, and you are welcome to circulate it!
It is a gift to work with such a creative and dedicated community of staff, artists, students and supporters. Truly. Holding the Executive Director role and responsibilities as the organization’s founder resigned, and through an ongoing pandemic could have been a crushing experience (and it does feel that way at times). Instead, I am deeply proud of and inspired by the resilience and care for each other within this community.
Please feel invited to reach out to me or Erica directly if you have thoughts, questions, or ideas about any of this. We welcome the opportunity to listen to your ideas about the direction The Circus Project’s leadership should go.
To evolution,
Kirsten Collins
Executive Director
kirsten@thecircusproject.org