18/04/2026
🟥 BigTopLabel-awarded companies call for support for traditional circus arts in a joint letter 🟥
🎪 On the occasion of World Circus Day, observed on 18 April, representatives of European circuses holding BigTopLabel recognition addressed a joint letter to the relevant leaders and decision-makers of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.
🎪 The BigTopLabel programme, launched nearly a decade ago at the initiative of former Member of the European Parliament István Ujhelyi, operates as a strict and independent professional quality assurance system: the recognition may only be granted to a company that meets the rigorously defined and personally verified criteria. These criteria include not only the professional and cultural quality of the performances, but also a strict examination of the enforcement of workers’ and performing artists’ rights, appropriate working conditions, the visitor experience and — where relevant — animal welfare guarantees. In recent years, eighteen European companies have so far received the BTL certification, including British, German, Spanish, Finnish, Swedish, French and Hungarian circuses, among others.
In the joint appeal, sent with the agreement and support of the European Circus Association, the eighteen circus companies asked the EU institutions and their leaders to ensure that, during the ongoing negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), traditional circus arts are not treated as a neglected cultural field, but as an integral part of Europe’s living cultural heritage.
🎪 The reason for this joint action is that, in their view, traditional circus arts — reaching millions of European citizens across generations and social groups — still do not receive the level of institutional EU attention and support framework they deserve in light of their cultural and social significance. Among other points, the letter draws attention to the fact that circus arts should be treated on a level similar to theatre, opera or dance, and that their recognition as cultural heritage should be strengthened.
🎪 The BigTopLabel-certified circuses offered professional cooperation and dialogue to EU decision-makers in the preparation of the next seven-year budget. In their joint letter, they emphasised that traditional circus arts are capable, at the same time, of preserving Europe’s cultural heritage, meeting modern European standards and contributing to social and cultural cohesion. The BTL circuses also pointed out that World Circus Day is a reminder that this art form is not merely entertainment, but a living European cultural tradition which should have a much more prominent place in European cultural policy and, consequently, in the next EU budget as well.
👉 The signatories of the letter: Blackpool Tower Circus (UK), Arlette Gruss (FR), Circus Krone (DE), Sirkus Finlandia Official (FI), Magyar Nemzeti Cirkusz / Hungarian National Circus (HU), Circus Knie / Schweizer National-Circus Knie (CH), Circus Balkanski (BG), Cirkus Brazil Jack (SE), Circus-Theater Roncalli (DE), Circo Raluy Legacy (ES), Richter Flórián Cirkusz (HU), Zippos Circus (UK), Zirkus Charles Knie (DE), Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione (FR), Cirkus Arnardo (NO), Tom Duffy's Circus (IE), Gandeys Circus (UK), St**dust – Winter Circus Carré Amsterdam (NL).
Brussels, 18 April 2026 🇪🇺
