Gulf Coast Community Foundation Invests in Circus Arts Conservatory

September 24, 2021 – Sarasota

The Circus Arts Conservatory recently received an Arts Appreciation Grant of $30,000 from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The grant will support the CAC’s 2021-2022 events and performance season, which includes the October CAC Legacy Society Lunch, January Circus Arts Gala, March CenterRing Society Dinner, and the Sailor Circus Holiday and Spring shows. This is the first Arts Appreciation Grant the CAC has been awarded by Gulf Coast.

Gulf Coast’s Arts Appreciation Grants offer unrestricted funding to cornerstone arts organizations in recognition of their contributions to our region’s economy and quality of life and to further their missions. 

“We’re pleased that the Gulf Coast Community Foundation has chosen to support our programming and outreach through this grant,” said Zoltan Karpathy, the CAC’s vice president of philanthropy. “This is the first year we have been awarded an Arts Appreciation Grant and we’re proud to be recognized for our community impact.”

The Circus Arts Conservatory is dedicated to preserving Sarasota’s extraordinary heritage of circus arts by presenting world-class professional performances, serving thousands of area school children through its Education Program and the elderly and those in care communities through the Humor Therapy Program, and nurturing the next generation of circus performers and fans with youth training through the Sailor Circus Academy. 

Currently, thousands of children are studying and engaging in the circus arts. The CAC’s Circus Magnet Programs for Booker Middle School, for which enrollment has doubled in its second year, and Sarasota High School, which is in its third year, teach students life skills as well as the circus arts. Programming is inclusive and age-appropriate. The Sailor Circus Academy – which claims the title “The Greatest Little Show on Earth” – is recognized nationally as the only circus school that also offers professional performances.

The CAC has conservative but optimistic plans for in-person attendance at its 2021-2022 events and shows, with virtual backup as warranted by ever-evolving COVID-19 safety guidelines. Since last year, the CAC has instituted and adhered to rigorous COVID-19 protocols that include required masking, social distancing standards, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting of facilities, staff health screenings, reduced seating capacities, and more.

For more about the CAC or its upcoming season, call 941-355-9805 or visit circusarts.org.