The React, Invent, Get together for a Goal: Expertise in Rigging Services (RIGGERS) project has been developed to answer the needs of riggers, the specialists dealing with all aspects related to safety in circus Institutions. The aims were 1) enhancing the quality of safety measures in professional circus Institutions, 2) creating a new international community to exchange skills, advice and expertise, and 3) ensuring knowledge transmission to future generations. The specific objectives of the project were to: • Identify the needs of the riggers by mapping the sector and collecting relevant data. • Build an international community of riggers by creating a sustainable framework to share and collect good practices, working towards agreements on standards, and by creating a dedicated virtual space to share and exchange between peers. • Offer a training scheme enabling fluid exchange between peers where current practices are shared, questioned and improved, and video-based documentation can be created to transmit knowledge and train new riggers and students.
In the last 15 years there has been growing awareness that the safety of the physical environments and equipment used in circus arts education must be a priority. Artists must control risks in order to minimize harm while simultaneously engaging with risk through artistic expression in performance. In circus Institutions, “riggers” are the specialists dealing with all aspects related to the safety of those working and training to become artists. The consortium of partners identified the following needs: • Riggers in circus Institutions often work in isolation with a heavy burden of responsibility. They lack chances to meet and share knowledge with peers from other Institutions. • There is a lack of reference documents, methodologies, tools and standards on how to asses risk and ensure safety in circus institution equipment, spaces and apparatus. • There are no common international standards nor methods of safety and rigging in the institutions. • Circus institutions are finding it difficult to recruit new riggers, since there is no common agreement on what should be the responsibilities and the expertise required for a circus education rigger.