SLOYD CIRCUS – TO STAGE AESTHETIC LEARNING

Sloyd Circus- the Swedish Handicraft organisation’s largest project for children. The Swedish government appointed Sloyd Circus to carry out a three-year national commission in the field of child culture from 2004-2006. Part of the money was earmarked for research. The circus toured Sweden in a circus tent, and gave a performance conducted by a team of three young skilled craft tutors and three artists (dancer, musician and actor). Children were invited to take part in a very interactive performance. The artists created an atmosphere that promoted aesthetic learning. The craft tutors worked hard to promote a gender-neutral environment in the workshops, skilfully manoeuvering past the “treacherous underwater rocks ” of gender and multicultural issues. They inspired the children to venture beyond their usual roles by showing them adults who “dared”, and by inviting them into a room that did not signal differences between people or cultures