Residents are offered use of Te Whare Maninirau, membership and support across the 10 weeks, with the residency culminating in a relaxed showing of the work in development. 

It is our intention that the fostering and facilitation of these practices within the residency will transfer into the culture of the wider collective circus community, creating a healthy and supportive environment for sustainable production of works.

The Ellerslie Arts Circus Residency was born out of a desire to provide support for the development of circus works in Tāmaki Makaurau. Applicants can be of any career stage and both individual artists and groups of any size are considered. 

Did you know we run an arts centre in the heart of Ellerslie, Auckland? This is where our classes are, our artists train and we do shows. Many other creatives and community groups also use the space: Ellerslie Arts

Check out upcoming non-circus events and workshops on at Ellerslie Arts. Activities include visual arts, yoga, classical music, acting training, dance and more:

He karanga nō te kainga. Pulling us heart first back to the ngāhere.

The Tūī soaks up the world around it and responds in song. Though beautiful, its tune is now a faint echo of what it once was when Aotearoa was blanketed in the ngāhere, flutes of patupaiarehe filled the trees and Māori alone walked gently upon their mother.

Te Tangi a Te Tūī invites you to experience an enchanting and empowering Māori cirque theatre work about adaptation and authenticity. This collaboration between kaupapa Māori theatre company, Te Rēhia Theatre and circus theatre company, The Dust Palace, is an evocative narrative of love and loss between Māori and the natural world in the face of colonial impact.

After sell out seasons in Vancouver, Tāmaki Makaurau, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taranaki, Whangārei & Kerikieri, Te Tangi a Te Tūī is set to travel back to Canada in 2026.