Trusts and Foundations
The National Centre is committed to making circus accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances. These objectives are only possible thanks to the generosity of support from Trusts and Foundations, who support accessibility schemes such as bursaries and scholarships for higher education students, workshops for neurodiverse young people, and ensuring that communities form global majority backgrounds can access all activities.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can help make great circus everywhere, get in touch development@nationalcircus.org.uk
Our projects
Children in Need have funded Sensory Circus since 2020 – a series of low-cost accessible workshops for autistic young people to explore the benefits of circus. We are also grateful to The Rayne Foundation and The Chapman Trust for their support of Sensory Circus.
“Sensory circus has been such a positive thing in [our child’s] life and our life as a family. Seeing him genuinely excited and happy about a social group and activity is so wonderful and a big relief. He has never felt so welcome and excited about a class or club. It has increased his confidence and positively impacted all areas of his life during a period which has been difficult for him in understanding his Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis and developing social relationships.” Parent of a Sensory Circus participant, 2022
The Leverhulme Trust funds just over 55 higher education students per academic year, through the Leverhulme Scholarship and Hardship Fund – nearly 50% of our total student intake.
“Doing this course has allowed me to follow my passion, and do the thing I know I’m good at. It means everything to me to be a circus artist and I’m so thrilled that I have a job to go to straight after I graduate. I would like to thank Leverhulme from the bottom of my heart for their support.” Mel Palmer, 2022 graduate
The Jack Petchey Foundation has invested over ÂŁ180 million in programmes benefitting young people ages 11-25 across London and Essex since 1999.
The National Centre receives funding for our London Youth Circus (LYC) through various grant schemes run by the foundation. This includes funding to take participants to see shows in London, providing masterclasses with artists or purchasing additional equipment and a Leader award—celebrating teachers on the LYC programme who then get to pick how the grant is spent.
