October 2010 Newsletter

Greetings from Flow Circus

Now Booking for Summer 2011!

New School Programs Flyer

Heading to the Mountains - 2010 ACA Conference

Showcase Season Under Way

Successful Grant Writing

Upcoming Tours

Greetings from Flow Circus: Hard to get excited for Fall when the temperatures have been in the mid 90s in North Carolina. It's finally cooling off and just in time for a busy month of conferences, showcases, workshops, and more.

Now Booking for Summer 2011! Believe it or not, we have already started booking for the 2011 Summer Reading Program. Paul can't wait to develop a new show for the One World, Many Stories theme.

New School Programs Flyer: This month we created a new flyer describing performances and workshops available for Elementary and Middle Schools.

Heading to the Mountains - 2010 ACA Conference: Next week, we will have the opportunity to share juggling and skill toys with camp staff at the 2010 American Camping Association - Southeastern Camping Conference. Our 2 sessions, Juggle Me This and Skill Toys for Tweens/Teens will provide camp staff information they need to start juggling and skill toy clubs for their campers. Because juggling is unplugged and has been around for over 4000 years, our sessions will be a playful complement to the conference theme: Back to Our Roots.

Campers and camp counselors love juggling and skill toys because:

• Novel experience: We all know that it can be challenging to grab the interest and attention of tweens and teens. The challenge of learning to juggle and the fact that many teens have never tried a Diabolo or Flower Sticks provides a newness and excitement for these activities.


• Active: Camps already focus on creating a healthy, active lifestyle for campers, but how can you engage those tweens/teens that "don't like sports?" Juggling and skill toys provide an active alternative that appeals to a wide variety of kids. It can also be an easy activity to have handy during downtime before meals/activities. Once a group of campers are juggling, everyone's going to want to try it!


• Memories: If you ask anyone that can juggle, "where did you learn how to do that?" they will be able to tell you where and when they first got it. We often compare learning to juggle with learning to ride a bike - it's just one of those experiences that you always remember. Offering the opportunity to create memories like this at your camp, will keep campers coming back year after year.

For more information about Flow Circus conference workshops and performances, contact Paul at paul@flowcircus.com or (919) 426-9157.

Showcase Season Under Way: For those of you that play a role in organizing performer's showcases, we thank you! They provide a wonderful opportunity for performers to show their stuff in a way that can not be captured in print materials or a website. It is also a valuable opportunity to network with clients as well as other performers. We are excited to have been invited to the following showcases this fall:

South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education

Montgomery County Cultural Arts Showcase (MD)

New Jersey Library Association Performer's Showcase

Feel free to contact us if you are planning a showcase for your school, library, or professional community. We would love to participate.

Successful Grant Writing: Dawn recently attended a grant writing seminar at our local Chamber of Commerce. Many of you have to write grants to fund basic operational budgets as well as new and innovative programs for your community. We thought we would share the following points made during the workshop that are important to keep in mind as you approach potential funders. If you have written lots of grants these may be obvious, but sometimes we all need helpful reminders.

• Do Your Research: Make sure your project objectives align with the mission of the funder.


• Networking: Look at the list of staff and board members of the funding organization to see if you have any connections.


• Don't Focus on Negativity: Everyone is struggling in these economic times. Funders want to support successful endeavors so focus on your excitement for the project and the benefits it will provide.


• Don't Apologize: Keep in mind that you are coming to the funder with an exciting opportunity and something of value. Don't be sorry that you are asking for money.


• Demonstrate Need: Use data and evidence to show how your program will benefit not only your organization, but the whole community. Why should someone that has nothing to do with your organization care about this program? Your reader needs to identify with the project.


• Be Clear and Concise: (enough said)

If you are considering writing a grant to fund a Juggling Club or Skill Toy Club at your organization, feel free to contact Dawn for assistance with the process.

Upcoming Tours: We have decided to keep this as a regular feature of our newsletters so you can keep up to date on when we will be in your area.

November 1-5: Northeast Tour (NY, NJ, PA)
December 28-30: Northern Virginia
December 31: First Night - Hazleton, PA
February 18-25: Northeast Tour (NY, NJ, PA)

March 9-11: South Carolina Tour

We are continually adding new tours to this schedule so feel free to contact us about setting up a tour in your area. To book a Flow Circus performance/workshop or schedule a tour in your region, contact Dawn at dawn@flowcircus.com or (919) 604-3462.