Nijmegen has the largest circus space in the eastern Netherlands

While the old Vasim factory was already under construction, acrobats at Vasim Circus Space practice their skills.

“They are so busy with things that they completely lose themselves that give a boost to the happiness hormones,” says Paulina Pezzuto Molina of Vasim Circus Space, beaming. All these tricks require a lot of space. That is why acrobats are so happy with the current space in Vasim of at least twelve meters that they have been able to rent from Nijmegen municipality in recent years for almost nothing. Paulina: “Yes, and certainly for aerial acrobatics, Vasim’s height is very special.”

Lingotto is redeveloping the old factory. According to the project developer, Vasim Circus Space can return to the factory hall only if they rent a space three times its current size. This was a bit of a switch for acrobatics, because rent is ten times more expensive.

But they made the virtue of necessity and now came up with a plan to divide a part of the new space in two. This allows them to teach while others train in the large space. Siebert Vlaar of Vasim Circus Space: “In order to make it profitable, we simply need several places and we have to create many halls.”

They already have the largest rehearsal space for circus performers in the Netherlands, but soon they will also be the most professional. But they have to do the division of the new space themselves. Siebert Flair: “To realize that, you just need real money.”

Through a crowdfunding campaign, they now want to raise their own seed capital for the necessary replenishment. Hopefully, support providers such as the governorate and the municipality will then step in. Seibert compares the process of making plans and getting a little money to juggling games: “It’s definitely a juggling metaphor and sometimes I find it easier to keep three cones in the air than this juggling job with all the backers and the municipality to get the money.”