ECA-Newsletter - may 2014 - ENTE

ECA INFORMATION LETTER
May 2014
ECA INTERNAL NEWS
New Video Section on ECA Website
The latest addition to the ECA website at www.europeancircus.eu is a special section for videos that
demonstrate what the ECA is standing for and actively supporting. Everyone is welcome to share these
links with others in order to help promoting the circus arts as a part of Europe’s cultural heritage. The
first two examples show the Gärtner Family’s work with their elephants in Monte Carlo and a behind
the scenes look at French Cirque Arlette Gruss. All members are asked to send in more videos that can
help to demonstrate what the ECA is standing for. If you want to share your videos on the ECA website,
please contact the ECA Secretariat.
CULTURE
World Circus Day 2014: A big success!
On 19th April 2014 the 5th World Circus Day was celebrated literally all over the world. Organized by
the Fédération Mondiale du Cirque under the patronage of H.S.H. Princess Stephanie of Monaco World
Circus Day once again became a huge promotion for the circus arts with a record 185 events in 47 countries. In Europe almost all countries participated. The big names, members of the European Circus Association, were joined in their celebrations by numerous activities organized by circus fans organizations,
youth circuses, museums and others. We applaude all the ECA members that participated this year:
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Cirque Arlette Gruss - France
Martin Lacey's cats at Circus Krone - Germany
Denmark
Cirkus Arena
Open doors animal practice
Finland
Sirkus Finlandia
Hosting circus school Arx
France
Cirque Arlette Gruss
“Apéro des Éléphants” and free entry to the zoo
for people in clowns costume
Germany
Circus Krone
Open doors animal practice
Zirkus Charles Knie
Open doors animal practice
Circus Gerd Sperlich
Primary school circus workshop and show
Merz-Pilini Circus Events
Spring party
Gesellschaft der Circusfreunde
Special event at Circusmuseum Magdeburg and
Family day at Circus Bely
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Hungary
Maciva
Circus parade in Budapest on 19 April 2014
Italy
Medrano-Casartelli
Little elephant pyramid
Moira Orfei
WCD greetings
Ass. Culturale Giulio Montico
Public animal practice in town square
Amici del Circo and others
Special performances
Japan
Kinoshita Circus
Special performance of “Elephant Train Chorus”
and 200 free tickets
Latvia
Riga Circus
Special performance for female prisoners
Lithuania
Baltijos Cirkas
Charity event
Netherlands
Wintercircus Hanson and others
All day special event in Oosterpark, Amsterdam
Poland
Cyrk Korona
Open door animal practice
Russia
Circusland Ltd.
Official opening of the Circus Social Network &
The Laughter Shelter social project for children
Great Moscow State Circus
Charity performance in children’s hospital and
friendly football match between circus and the
team of the Russian celebrities “SratKo”
Rosgoscirk
Opening ceremony of the Circus Art-Club and
Performance of Rosgoscirk artists, masterclasses
Spain
Gran Circo Mundial
Special event in the public square in Marbella
Sweden
Cirkus Brazil Jack
Open doors artists and animal practice
Switzerland
Circus-, Varieté- und Artistenfreunde Painting competition for children
Ukraine
Cirk Kobzov
Shows dedicated to World Circus Day
United Kingdom Gandey’s Circus Starr
Design a Circus Poster competition
Blackpool Tower Circus
Clowns Mooky and Mr Booo attempt to complete 120 baton throws in 120 seconds
Zippo’s Circus
Open door artists and animal practice
More about World Circus Day on www.circusfederation.org
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ANIMAL WELFARE
Activists pay Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey 25 million
In a press release on 15 May 2014, Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus and a long time associated member of the ECA, informed that the Humane Society
of the United States (HSUS), along with their co-defendants, have paid them $15.75 million to settle
cases stemming from a lawsuit they brought against Ringling Bros.® over the care of its Asian elephants.
This historic settlement payment to Feld Entertainment ends nearly 14 years of litigation between the
parties.
"We hope this settlement payment, and the various court decisions that found against these animal
rights activists and their attorneys, will deter individuals and organizations from bringing frivolous litigation like this in the future," said Kenneth Feld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Feld Entertainment. "This settlement is a significant milestone for our family-owned business and all the dedicated
men and women who care for the Ringling Bros. herd of 42 Asian elephants. We look forward to continuing to set the standard for providing world-class care for all our animals and producing high quality,
family entertainment."
In December 2012, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), a former codefendant in the case, settled its share of the lawsuits by paying Feld Entertainment $9.3 million. Today's settlement brings the total recovered by Feld Entertainment to more than $25 million in
legal fees and expenses.
In the original ESA lawsuit, Feld Entertainment discovered the animal rights groups and their lawyers
had paid over $190,000 to a former circus employee to be a "paid plaintiff." The Court also found that
the animal rights groups and their attorneys "sought to conceal the nature, extent and purpose of the
payments" during the litigation. The Court found in addition to the "paid plaintiff," that the lawsuit was
"frivolous and vexatious."
Additional information on this settlement and the underlying litigation can be found at
www.ringlingbrostrialinfo.com
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EU REGULATIONS
EU Commission proposes a „Touring Visa“ for circus artists
For more than one year, ECA Legal Advisor Laura van der Meer, has worked with the EU Commission in
Brussels to solve some of the visa issues that make life hard for circus artists and the companies that
want to book them. One of the main obstacles for the free movement of circuses across borders in the
European Union is a gap in the visa regulations. Although this was mainly a problem for global companies like Cirque du Soleil and Feld Entertainment that have shows hopping from one country to another,
it did concern many other circuses and artists too, e.g. artists that want to do some galas in France before appearing at a Christmas circus in another country.
For most of the EU Member States (and some others, including Switzerland) the Schengen Agreement
established detailed rules concerning the entry and stay of third-country nationals for up to 90 days in a
180 days period (so-called short stays), allowing free movement within the Schengen area during this
time. For longer stays a national long-stay visa from one of the Member States is needed. These longstay visa are purpose-bound, e.g. for work, business, study etc.. Only certain classes of the long-stay
visa allow working in EU countries other than the country that issued the visa. And even in this case, the
90 days limitation applies.
The Schengen visas currently are very strict about the 90 days period. The visa cannot be extended. The
third-country nationals have to leave the Schengen area after these 90 days and wait for 90 days before
returning to the Schengen area.. This limitation may have been appropriate for the size of the five
founding members of the Schengen cooperation. However, when then Schengen area now comprises
26 Member States, it poses a considerable barrier for circuses and artists. The EU Commission agreed
that this situation cannot be justified by Member States’ security concerns and does not serve their
economic, cultural and educational interests.
The proposal for amending the Schengen visa regulation, as published by the EU Commission on 1 April
2014 (COM(2014) 163 final) almost exclusively quotes the European Circus Association describing the
problems of touring shows which in many cases do not meet the residency requirements enabling staff
and artists to obtain long-stay visas. The EU Commission proposes to establish a new type of visa
(“Touring Visa”) for an intended stay in two or more Member States lasting more than 90 days but no
more than 1 year with the possibility of extension up to 2 years, provided that the applicant does not
intend to stay for more than 90 days in any 180 day period in the same Member State.
The work is now underway to gain support for this proposal in the new Parliament following elections
end of May and by the Member States, some of which oppose any expansion of the visa policy. Although not actively involved anymore, the ECA will follow the further developments and keep its
members updated. Continuing to lead the way are Feld and Cirque du Soleil but Laura van der Meer
would welcome any other circus‘ involvement. Interested circuses should contact Laura directly or via
the ECA Secretariat.
ECA-SECRETARIAT
Am Kuckhofsweg 15, 41542 Dormagen, Deutschland
Telefon: +49-2133-266 45 80, Fax: +49-2133-91 553
eca@europeancircus.info
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