The Big Ask (Part III) (Patreon)

"'The Big Lofty Dream'", you say?! "Get on with it, Ess, what is it?!"

Alright, so on Wednesday we ruled out working for medium or big-sized companies; we ruled out one-off corporate nightclub style gigs (hey, a few here and there is fun, but I'm not a spring chicken and it took me a full week to recover from the last all-nighter I did when I performed VACUUM at "Impulse" on October 9th); and we ruled out that the Moulin Rouge (and a not-short list of other European cabarets) aren't super hot on the idea of Barbette gracing their stages.

Now what?

I'll tell ya what:

A festival.

HEAR ME OUT.

Festival-performances have always been presented to me by other artists as a stepping-stone opportunity.

I was lucky enough to have dinner with circus artist Tanya Burka last week, and even she commented on festivals in this regard: festivals aren't work; festivals are how you get work. Going to a festival is a challenge, to be sure! But to go to a festival means you've already 'won', whether you medal there or not – because it almost certainly means you're getting a contract out of it.

For example, if you perform at Cirque de Demain, (for many artists) your career is effectively launched. Troy and I won the 'Prix Moulin Rouge' at our year for Cirque de Demain; it's why we got the opportunity to perform at the Moulin Rouge in the first place. That festival was also why we were invited to perform on La France À Un Incroyable Talent, where we got a Golden Buzzer and the chance to return for the finale show later that year (2019). Troy and I also competed at the 6th International China Circus Festival in Zhuhai – an intense experience but a fascinating one. It, too, seemed more like a networking, travel, and ‘experience’ opportunity (it was paid, though! Pretty cool) than a ‘contract’.

So, a festival isn't "work".
But it's a stage – a big one.
And I want to share my work with as many people as possible!

Returning our focus now to the wind-down of Le Numéro Barbette creation that happened in September this year:  the brief, DM-based exchange that I had with the producer at Cirque de Demain in the midst of me lobbing the Barbette trailer at anyone and everyone who might watch it and possibly book it in early September, sparked something in me.

A little whisper in a shadowy back-corner of my brain.

What if you tried to go again?

Cirque de Demain, round 2.

Why not?

Yes, it’s just as ridiculous as trying to tailor-make an act for the Moulin Rouge.

Yes, it’s just as unlikely to actually come true as the last venture.

But it's a good goal.

It's a perfect balance of lofty, yet just maybe, just maybe, with a massive pinch of luck, attainable. And in the process of working towards something that big and ridiculous, I’m going to end up somewhere good, with something good – whether or not it ever ends up being shown on the stage of the Cirque Phénix in Paris.

The foundational premise of Le Numéro Barbette, from what I created this summer, is good.

I still have this producer’s contact, and the folks at that festival know I exist.

He likes the concept.

It just needs to not be a contortion act.

An aerial version could work on a big stage like the one at Cirque Phénix.

In short: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

So the next question is: How do I get myself there?

In short again: TIME TO APPLY FOR GRANTS.

* * * * *

And now, dear patrons, I have caught you up to the point that we left off at – the point where I dropped off the map for a couple weeks at the end of September/early October because I was writing like a tornado to meet a grant deadline. For this!

The writings to follow next week and afterwards pull together all the small moving pieces that I engineered into the massive composite grant I wrote and submitted at the start of October. It's the biggest grant I've ever written, and I marshalled all my skills and knowledge to put my best foot forward for it. I'm looking forward to sharing the inner machinations with you all!

Have yourselves a lovely weekend, and stay strange & wonderful.

XO - Ess