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GIVE A SMILE PROGRAM

Areas: Culture and Arts; Science and Education
The program operateв in 2016
Recipient of charitable aid: Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts

What we have done in 2016:

Kyiv International Circus Art Festival 2016

Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts is a unique higher education institution being the only one in Eastern Europe to prepare variety and circus performers.
The academy’s history traces back to August 1961, when the Republican Studio of Variety and Circus Arts opened at Ukrkontsert in the premises of the Kyiv Circus. Over its fledgling years, the studio went through a number of reorganizations, changing to Kyiv State School of Variety and Circus Arts, then Kyiv State College of Variety and Circus Arts, and finally in 2008 it received the current status of a municipal academy. Since 1999, the academy has been a member of the International Association of Higher Circus Education and a member of its Presidium. In 2016, the institution accomplished 55 years from the founding.
Today, the academy offers intramural and correspondence higher education courses that lead to the master’s degree in three fields (theatrical art, musical art, variety and circus art), with a range of specialties such as Circus Acrobatics, Circus Gymnastics, Balancing, Juggling, Mine, Illusion and Manipulation, Clowning, Puppetry, Stand-Up Comedy, Popular Singing, Contemporary Dancing, Stage Direction of Variety Shows, Theatrical and Circus Performances. The academy maintains ongoing cooperation with the National Circus of Ukraine to annually hold Gala Concerts for graduates, the latter including both Ukrainian and foreign students.
The academy has become alma mater for renowned illusionists: Yevhen Voronin, Halyna Strutynska-Hayes, Viktoria Voytko, Vitaliy Horbachevskyi, Vlad Kryvonogov; clowns: Semen Shuster, the MimiKrichi theatre, the Equivoque comic trio, Art-Obstril clown syndicate; balance masters, jugglers and acrobats: Yuriy Pozdnyakov, Viktor Kiktyev, Anatoliy Zalevskyi, Stanislav Samarin, Yevhen Pymonenko, Yuriy Shavro, Diana Aleshchenko, Erik Palchykov, Denys Tolstov, the Grinchenko brothers, Iryna Pitsur, Natalia Vasylyuk, the Iroshnikov brothers, Dmytro Bulkin, Oleksandr Koblikov, and the Bingo circus theatre; stand-up comedians: Anatoliy Litvinov, Illya Noyabryov, Klara Novikova, Oleksandr Tsekalo, Volodymyr Danylets and Volodymyr Moyiseyenko, Andriy Danylko; dancers: the Freedom ballet and the А6 ballet; singers: Mykola Mozgovyi, Natalia Mogylevska, Svitlana Loboda, Natalia Korolyova, Anna and Angelina Zavalska, Mika Newton, Max Barskikh, and many others.
Outstanding achievements of the academy’s graduates include awards received at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain (World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow) in Paris, the Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo (International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo), where they won all at once gold, silver and bronze medals in 2013, thus raising Ukraine to hit the top three best circus countries. Graduates of Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts have a number of awards from other top-ranked circus festivals in China, USA, Germany, Hungary, from song festivals such as the BENGIO Festival in Italy, the Slavic Bazaar in Vitebsk, the New Wave international contest, the Black Sea Games, and participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts is subordinated to the Culture Department of the Kyiv City State Administration. Funds allocated from the state budget for the academy’s development are not sufficient. The financial burden associated with students’ participation in various contests, including international ones, lies heavy on their own shoulders, but unfortunately, not all students can afford it. For this reason, the academy’s talented artists need help in their efforts to make our country famous.
Kyiv Municipal Academy is a co-organiser of the annual Kyiv International Circus Festival participated by artists from many countries. Organization of this festival involves high financial costs.
The French writer François Mauriac once said that circus is the last refuge of pure art. So UWCF seeks to help circus artists in giving smiles to their little spectators.
Objective:
support and promote the circus art;
support and encourage talented children and youth interested in illusion, mime, balancing, juggling, etc.;
establish links between circus schools in different countries;
improve educational conditions for students of Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts.
Techniques and methods:
Searching for benefactors and fund raising to provide assistance in creative activities to Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts and its students;
Organising and holding recitals and graduation concerts for students of Kyiv Municipal Academy on big arenas and stages;
Organising and holding annually the Kyiv International Circus Festival;
Organising festivals, concerts, contests, master classes;
Giving grants to talented youth;
Support to talented students by providing scholarship allowances;
Inviting orphans, children from families of soldiers participating in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) and persons internally displaced from the ATO Area, children from low-income families, to circus performances and concerts;
Information support for Kyiv Municipal Academy’s activities and events.
Cooperation:
central governmental and local authorities, the National Circus of Ukraine, Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts, charitable organisations, volunteer organisations, people’s artists and honoured artists, community leaders, other celebrities.