The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery to Open at The Ringling Museum

January 17, 2024 – Sarasota

The Ringling Circus Museum will premiere its newest exhibition space, The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery, on the second floor of the Tibbals Learning Center on April 6, 2024. This latest addition to the museum celebrates the era of modern circus that began with Irvin Feld’s purchase of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1967. The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery modernizes the museum’s expansive history of the circus by exploring the first fifty years of the Feld family’s stewardship during which the spectacle of the show brought the circus experience to new heights. 

The new exhibit continues the story, found throughout the Circus Museum, of how Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey grew to become one of the most well-recognized brands in the world. The gallery space is designed to evoke the excitement of seeing a live show, while also representing the full spectrum of the production experience from both front- and back-of-house perspectives. Visitors can explore artifacts, costumes, and media footage in an engaging and multisensory experience throughout the exhibition area. 

 “This exhibit will serve as a dynamic testament to the vitality and innovation of modern circus,” says Steven High, executive director of The Ringling. “We are thrilled to finally have permanent gallery space dedicated to the era of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that many of our visitors remember. The innovations that Feld Entertainment Inc. developed for The Greatest Show On Earth inspired our new gallery that combines objects, interactives and immersive technology to create a completely unique experience.”

The arched entrance to The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery is crowned by a brightly lit Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey sign, an artifact donated by Feld Entertainment Inc., that traveled across the country with the touring show. That iconic marquee invites visitors to continue past the circus history timeline and enter the new exhibit space, which consists of three sections. The first explains the history of the Feld family and the evolution of Feld Entertainment Inc. through important artifacts related to the Feld family’s transformation of the circus business. 

“The late 1960s was a critical period for the circus,” explains Jennifer Lemmer Posey, Tibbals Curator of Circus at The Ringling. “Just a decade before, Ringling Bros. had stopped performing under the big top and had moved their shows to indoor venues. Without the magic of the circus lot, Irvin Feld understood that they had to work twice as hard to fill those familiar arenas with immersive and breathtaking spectacles,” Lemmer Posey explains. “The Felds did so by introducing lavish costumes and scenic elements combined with the latest technologies in lighting and sound. The Feld family has built on their vast experience producing exciting family entertainment to continue reimagining what a circus can be.”

The second room in the new gallery, which includes an interactive media component that features more than 120 circus acts, provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the show came together each season from concept development to execution. The entire experience culminates with the third section, an exciting mixture of multimedia and three-dimensional presentation that conveys the spectacle and thrill of circus performance. In homage to the way in which circuses present a new show every season, The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery will regularly rotate its content, offering new iterations of the objects and stories on display where visitors can return time and again to learn more.

As Feld Entertainment Inc. relaunches Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey across the U.S. in 2024, the history contained within the museum’s newest gallery is more relevant than ever. “The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery provides an engaging introduction to the living history that has led to this newest iteration of Ringling Bros.,” says Lemmer Posey. “We find ourselves at the perfect moment to open these galleries, to contextualize the living history of the show and to update the museum’s interpretation of the history of the circus in America.”