circusnext explains how to apply to its next call for emerging circus authors, at Circa Festival in France on 21 October

If you're an emerging circus artist with a creation in the works, circusnext is in Auch, France, on Wednesday 21 October to explain how its next call works. The session runs from 14h30 to 16h in the associations hall of Centre Cuzin, during the 39th Circa Festival. It's free, in English, and you register with a short online form.

circusnext is a European label for contemporary circus that backs emerging artists with residencies, coproductions, labs and training. Its last call ran from 12 January to 9 March 2026, for the 2027 edition, and 146 artists applied. The next one opens early 2027, no date yet.

To give you an idea of the odds: out of those 146, the call preselects about 20 projects, then picks 10 finalists and 4 laureates. Each finalist project gets €3,000, creation residencies and a lab mentored by an experienced artist. Each laureate project gets €5,000 and a year of support.

The Seeding Labs are the newest step, a lab format circusnext started this year. This autumn, 30 authors on 20 projects travel to circusnext Platform members across Europe to work on writing and dramaturgy, guided by an experienced mentor.

Who could apply last time? Emerging circus authors. Any age, any discipline, with a project still in creation and no premiere before September 2027.

In France, Belgium or the Netherlands, it had to be a first or second creation. In Switzerland or another country taking part in Creative Europe, the European Union programme, a third creation was fine too. Those were the 2027 rules, and the next ones aren't published yet.

Concretely, this is the place to ask whether your project fits before you write a single page. The last call was in English only, since that's the working language of the whole selection. The session is in person. circusnext hasn't said it will be streamed.