In 2008, Teatro ZinZanni created the ZinZanni Institute for Circus Arts (ZICA) in order to expand on the educational component of its mission statement.  ZICA seeks to foster transformative experiences in youth and adults by offering ancient and contemporary circus arts education in a fun and safe environment.  ZICA values the art of storytelling, mastery of craft, the beauty of discipline and lifelong learning and believes that dedication to circus as an art form promotes self-esteem, confidence, trust and respect.  ZICA achieves this by offering an international faculty of the world’s finest practitioners of these disciplines, and by providing professional quality learning opportunities and productions in a unique environment – the hundred year old Belgian spiegeltent or mirror tent.  ZICA is committed to passing along circus stories, forms and traditions to the next generation.  Programs range from master classes taught by resident performers, field trips and outreach programs for local schools and libraries, summer camps and children’s programming.

“The world we create each night at Teatro ZinZanni is deeply rooted in centuries of circus, theatre and music tradition. Most of our artists started their training as very young children and many of them are third or fourth generation artists. Bringing along the next generation is the natural, expected thing. As we approach our tenth anniversary, we recognize the need to not only preserve these increasingly rare art forms, but to provide much-needed professional training opportunities for both artists and artisans to continue refining, defining and improving their craft.”  -Norm Langill, Teatro ZinZanni President and Artistic Director

Teatro ZinZanni is proud to support the American Cancer Society by donating circus workshops to Camp Goodtimes West.