Big Apple Circus Expands After School Program

Big Apple Circus announces the expansion of its Circus After School Program to include two new partnerships last month, with Children of Promise NYC (CPNYC) and The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine.

Circus After School is a twelve-week program, now offered at five partner sites in New York, providing young people with the unique opportunity to develop life-enhancing skills such as teamwork, trust, commitment, and responsible risk-taking through a structured program of learning and performing circus arts, culminating in a performance for family and friends. Additionally, all of the participants take a field trip to a performance of the Big Apple Circus, where they can appreciate what they have learned by watching the awe-inspiring skills of the world's top performers.

Young people and education have been a part of the Circus since its founding in 1977, reflecting the enduring appeal the circus arts have for children from all walks of life. Circus is an ideal activity for after-school enrichment, and over the years the Big Apple Circus has sustained its commitment to educational programming. Throughout, it has provided young people with the highest quality experience, engaging and empowering them to achieve their full potential. For more information on Circus After Schooland more Big Apple Circus Community Programs, visit www.bigapplecircus.org/community-programs.

Children of Promise, NYC (CPNYC) is a community-based, nonprofit organization in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) Brooklyn, whose mission is to embrace the children of incarcerated parents and empower them to break the cycle of intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system.

CPNYC offers an innovative and unique after-school program and summer day camp, the only one of its kind in New York City, specifically designed to meet the needs, interests and concerns of children left behind by parents serving time in prison. www.cpnyc.org

The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine is an independent, Episcopal, K-8 day school for girls and boys of all faiths. The School is committed to a rigorous academic program that integrates the arts, athletics, and leadership development. The School prides itself on being a diverse community in partnership with families who take an active role in their children's intellectual, ethical, social, and emotional growth. The Cathedral School offers a stimulating environment in which each child can become an articulate, confident, and responsible citizen of the world. Continuing a century-old relationship, the School draws upon the Cathedral's vast resources and provides its children's choir. www.cathedralnyc.org

As a nonprofit performing arts institution, the Big Apple Circus is committed not only to thrilling audiences in the ring, but also to bringing the joy and wonder of circus into the community. Big Apple Circus creates direct, shared connections inside its one-ring Big Top AND in hospitals, nursing homes, and schools, in its New York City home and in cities across America.