We take care settings seriously as unique, creative places.
Homemade Circus trains people in care settings to run their own circus sessions, putting benefits like increased connection, confidence. movement and imagination permanently into the hands of the people who live and work there.
Homemade Circus follows on from over 10 years of bringing circus skills to older people. To learn more about the different ways we’ve done this in the past, click here.
In 2023–24, we expanded our Homemade Circus project into a national programme, building on earlier delivery in care homes in London and Hull. Delivered by lead artist Charlene Low and a team of specially trained workshop leaders, the sessions were hands-on and responsive to the people in the room, with a strong focus on building trust, confidence and skills.
Throughout the project, we also trained care staff, meaning the sessions could continue beyond our involvement.
What we learnt was that whether they were there to care or to be cared for, people kept surprising themselves with what they could do.
“It’s just so much fun. I always say to people – I can do a 12 hour shift on that day because it just takes me somewhere else…It gives you that excitement, you have so much extra oxygen. So, so much creativity.” – Care Home Staff after a Homemade Circus workshop
Homemade Circus and Parkinsons UK
Earlier this year, we ran a pilot bringing Homemade Circus into an entirely new setting: Parkinson’s support groups, in partnership with the University Hospitals of North Midlands in Stoke-on-Trent, and funded by Parkinson’s UK. We worked alongside Parkinson’s specialist nurses and volunteers – as well as the group members living with Parkinson’s – adapting our approach as we went and listening carefully to what was actually useful.
Rather than bringing in performers, we trained support workers, occupational therapists and volunteers, building their confidence to lead movement sessions themselves.
Read about what happened in the room directly from support workers and group members in our blog posts from Jeanette, Gareth and Roger.
The feedback from nurses, volunteers and group members went straight back into our Homemade Circus toolkit, so that what we learnt is now available to everyone. Discover the Homemade Circus Toolkit below:
Learn to lead your own circus activity sessions:
Built from our learnings, the Homemade Circus Digital Toolkit gives anyone working with older people or people with limited mobility the knowledge and confidence to run accessible circus activities in their own care settings.
Whether you’re a care provider looking for meaningful activities, an artist/facilitator interested in working in care settings, or someone who supports older adults, sign up to our toolkit to unlock the transformative impact of circus activities with older people.
What have we discovered so far?
In the first year of running Homemade Circus we trained over 50 care home staff to deliver interactive circus activities to over 130 residents. We followed each step closely so that we could see what was working, here’s what we learnt:
The training itself was a teambuilding experience. Both staff and residents found that learning together through play and practice really valuable. As one staff member told us, “It was freeing trying activities ourselves, messing up, cheering each other on, and trying again.”
This gave people who worked in the care homes a better outlook on these kinds of programmes, and changed perceptions of what ‘circus’ is too.
Through the activities, residents bonded over achieving more than they thought they could.“I liked how everyone was in it together. I liked doing the activities with other people I’ve seen around before. We were all doing the same thing together as if we’d been doing it forever.”, commented one resident. Not only are people bonding more, but balance, coordination and movement have improved.
Homemade Circus and Creative Ageing Webinar
In June 2025 Upswing’s Executive Director Camille Ben-Soussan presented Homemade Circus at a webinar with Arts Council England on how to engage older people living in care in meaningful creative opportunities:
Partners
Homemade Circus is made in partnership with Anchor Hanover Care Homes, Excelcare Homes and Bupa. Funded by City Bridge Trust and The Rayne Foundation. The Parkinson’s pilot project was in partnership with the University Hospitals of North Midlands in Stoke-on-Trent, and funded by Parkinson’s UK.
Photo credits: Jamie Disney, Christopher Andreou and Jerome Whittingham