This September, for the fourth year in a row, aerialists, clowns, actors, and jugglers will fill Circus Campus for the Philly Fringe Festival. Following the Fringe’s ethos of experimentation and pushing artistic boundaries, 12 artists will take risks and debut new routines, breaking free of the traditional juggling and circus mold.

This year, the festival runs from Sept. 4-28 at sites throughout the city and Sept. 12-28 at the Circus Campus. Housed since 2017 in the converted St. Madeleine Sophie Catholic Church at 6452 Greene St., the campus includes classrooms and spaces with 40- and 17-foot ceilings where aerialists spin and teach youth and adult classes through the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts (PSCA). On Sept, 27, PSCA staff will perform “Timeloops,” a Fringe show telling the history of circus since its U.S. debut on Market Street. According to PSCA Executive Director Kitsie O’Neill, the show asks what artists can learn from circus’ past and how to advance the discipline.

O’Neill explained, “With circus you talk about fear, pushing yourself or your limits. … It’s doing something that scares you, obviously in a good, controlled way. You’ll be supported with coaches and fellow students.”

Safety first

For Melissa Mellon, PSCA teacher, show producer, and “Timeloops” performer, risk is part of art, but it also requires support and community. “Risk assessment is the thing that we’re always making sure we’re doing when we’re on the floor and when we’re performing. We’re always all looking out for each other, which is really nice. We all know we have each other’s backs.”

Sometimes during performance, a helping hand can be crucial for staying safe while playing with fire. Hannah Pinkos, owner and managing director of Skylark Circus Arts will, with collaborator and Skylark Creative Director Autumn Cornell, make their debut at Fringe with “Lunarium,” a surreal circus cabaret set in a mystical realm. The show will feature aerial and fire acts performing outside.

“With all the circus performances I do, safety is the number one priority,” Pinkos said. “For fire, we have learned through the community techniques to minimize risk as far as types of fuel to use, attire so there are less chances of there being a flame transfer to the body, and never practicing fire arts alone.”

As Fringe artists write and rehearse shows, Circus Campus hopes to be a pillar to support balancing acts, according to juggler and Circus Campus building co-owner Greg Kennedy. Kennedy bought the church with his wife, Circadium School of Circus Arts Executive Director and PSCA Founder Shana, in 2017 after five years of touring internationally with Cirque Du Soleil. His first show with Fringe was back in 2006, and he has debuted many routines at the festival since.

Kennedy hopes the hub can both support artists by offering a space, videographer, and sound system, and bring people into the building to meet the tenants, including Cocoon Philly yoga studio and Narberth Community Theatre. In the future, he hopes to host open studio sessions and concerts, and says the campus already serves as a park and gathering space for many.

“We’re really doing this to support artists in bringing circus to people at a level where it hasn’t been traditionally seen in the past, something that is equal to dance, or music,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s own Fringe show this year is “Architectonica,” a juggling act that plays with structural balance and mathematical concepts drawing from his engineering background. Kennedy describes himself as a tactile thinker, and many of his educational outreach performances expose students to math and physics. His experimentations with structure — the root of the Fringe show — originate from playing with wooden blocks with his now-adult son.

“Architectonica” begins with self-supporting Leonardo da Vinci-style bridges and spheres, pieces inspired by Kenneth Snelson’s “tensegrity” structures, and a mobile that flies into the ceiling once constructed. All acts will involve audience participation.

“You might have noticed there were no balls getting thrown or caught from my hands, and that was my challenge this year,” Kennedy said. “That’s what I mean about Fringe being experimental. ... I like to challenge myself to do something different. It’s all about taking chances; it’s the Fringe.”

Filling funding gaps

Circus Campus’ support for artists is especially pressing during federal arts funding cuts (Circadium lost a previously-awarded grant for a performance while a show was underway) and in the post-pandemic era. FringeArts Executive Director Nell Bang-Jensen also pointed to the closing of University of the Arts in 2024 as a blow to future generations and financial support.

“In many ways it has become more challenging to be an artist in Philly. But the goodwill and camaraderie and mentorship is the same,” Bang-Jensen said.

A city of makers and artists

Bang-Jensen came to Fringe in her current role in 2024, but has been a Fringe artist since attending her first show with professors from Swarthmore College. She said FringeArts shaped Philadelphia in her mind as a city of “makers and artists,” and she was astounded by the diversity of scale of performances, from international tours to alternative basement shows. After graduation, she produced a show for Fringe as her first theater gig, and went on to contribute through roles with “devised theater” company Pig Iron and the Regional Tony Award-winning Wilma Theater.

Since the pandemic, Bang-Jensen said arts organizations are learning to support each other. In 2024, Fringe had the highest attendance in its history, showing its success since the pandemic, especially among under-35 attendees. Federal grants, a crucial part of FringeArts’ budget, were denied under new federal guidelines. In response, FringeArts released a statement denouncing cuts based on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and affirming their commitment to supporting marginalized artists.

“We’re recognizing now we all rise in circles,” Bang-Jensen said. “We’re all part of making the ecosystem what it is in order for Philadelphia to be a sustainable place for artists and also an exciting place for audiences.”

In the past five years, Fringe has focused on developing its hubs, performance spaces hosted across Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. This year brings three new hubs: Studio 34 in West Philadelphia, Dumb Hub in Fishtown (named for its clowns and comedy shows), and Sawubona Creativity Project in South Philadelphia. This year, each hub receives financial support in exchange for volunteering their space.

To each their own hub

Bang-Jensen said the hubs reflect the character of each neighborhood. Dumb Hub is risky, experimental, and adult, reflecting the area’s millennial and Gen Z population. Circus Campus is family-friendly given the number of young families in the area (Wendi Wynazz “Mae West: The Comeback Tour” is recommended for ages 14 and up).

As part of that family focus, Enchantment Theatre Company will perform “Mommy’s Khimar,” a show developed for the group’s Enchantment Everywhere program, which in the wake of budget cuts, brings art to schools. The show, based on a children’s book by Philadelphia author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, follows a girl who embarks on magical adventures using her Muslim mom’s headscarf. This is Enchantment’s first year at the Fringe after performing for 45 years as a company. As a touring group, they do not have a physical space except storage for their masks, puppets, costumes, and props. Enchantment Executive Director Zachary Chiero, who joined the theater in 2009, said schools do not need to provide anything but two plugs and any space, including hallways and lobbies.

Enchantment had its own National Endowment for the Arts funding pulled this year, along with many other theater companies, but is raising money through grassroots efforts and collaborations with other organizations. Chiero, who has performed at the Fringe with other theaters, believes Philadelphia has the “most iconic” Fringe festival in the country and is excited to continue the partnership with Enchantment in the future.

“We have such a desire to band together, to continue telling stories, and to really connect with our audiences again; to make people feel safe and comfortable coming out, participating, and having the opportunity to not only escape, but also to be changed by the art that they see,” Chiero said. “Arts can be a really useful tool in reflecting society or things that are happening in the world at the current moment, and it feels very much like all of us, no matter what our discipline is, have decided to take up that mantle proudly.”

FringeArts’ Mt. Airy Circus Hub is at 6452 Greene St., Mt. Airy. For more information and tickets, contact 215-413-1318 or phillyfringe.org.