Support Us
Unit 15 Creation Space, Bristol was set up by The Invisible Circus for the Circus Community. Since opening, Unit 15 Bristol has been home to our Launch Pad Residency project which has opened doors for creatives to produce show stopping works by utilising our venues and expertise for free in exchange for passion. We've also hosted a range of live events from our members only Scratch Nights to broader ticketed events such as Sofar Sounds' evening of live music.
Our professional training space is universally loved by our members, who travel from all over the UK and Europe to train with us, where often performers opt to stay with us in our onsite accommodation.
You asked how you could support us as we continue to grow and raise the bar for Circus training in the South West. We're please to say, you can use the button below to donate to Unit 15 and The Invisible Circus. We will always highlight our fund-raising priorities so you know where your money is going - read on below to find out more!
Thank you to all who have contributed and trained with Unit 15 Creation Space in Bristol over the years.
Current Fundraising Focus:
Expanding the versatility of our members’ creation space, to have capacity to transform from a training and rehearsal setting, to a professional theatre setting within a matter of hours (and to transform back again in time for training the next day)!
About the Project:
Unit 15 hosts highly skilled performers every day through our member training facilities, and get to see the brilliant work they are in the process of developing - what’s more, we welcome a range of visiting companies and innovative creators for rehearsals, R&D sessions and rigging tests as well as master classes and workshops.
We would love for more people to share the joy of these talents, creating a unique performance space and welcoming audiences from our local area and beyond.
We need to purchase strong, portable, and attractive raked seating for performances at Unit 15. Due to its diverse uses we need to be able to transform from training to performance space with ease, high quality and efficiency. Seating needs to be portable rather than permanently installed.
What’s the Benefit?
This investment would spark opportunity for the company, artists, and audiences alike. On a practical level it would reduce labour costs per show and take away the need for visiting companies to hire seating, saving resources all round.
By increasing revenue through encouraging more hires of Unit 15 as a performance venue, as well as producing in-house shows, we will be able to further support the work and growth of Invisible Circus, and in turn, the artists and communities we work with.
For performers who use Unit 15, there will be more opportunities to perform their work in front of audiences, in a professional setting, but at an affordable cost and in a space where they are already comfortable.
For our Launch Pad Residency artists, who we provide with in-kind space to develop new and innovative projects, we aim to offer performance space as part of their residency, so that they can share a work-in-progress showing at the end of their residency, as a way to support the growth of their project and for Unit 15 to raise funds to support the residency program.
For audiences, raked seating offers an improved experience with better site lines to view the show. The ground based level is still accessible for wheelchair users and those for whom stairs are a barrier.
Our creation space is based in St Philips, which, despite its central location, has one of the highest levels of deprivation in the city. As part of our focus on continually endeavouring to be as welcoming and accessible a space and organisation as we can, we will be offering discounted tickets for all in-house shows to those in our local post code(s).
Why is Unit 15 any different to other performance venues?
Unit 15 is unique to Bristol in its combination of complex rigging facilities, high ceilings and large open space, making a wide range of aerial work possible, most notably dynamic swinging disciplines such as Cloud Swing and Swinging Trapeze. Therefore, we can provide a unique performance space with infrastructure in place to welcome acts of this nature (who will also have the opportunity to rehearse in the same space in the lead up to their shows).
As the space is versatile in its uses, workshops, masterclasses and talks can be arranged in conjunction with shows, to happen in the same space as the performance.