Since 2015, "Circonauta, International Festival of Contemporary Circus and Street Arts” has been an appointment bringing to Apulia the best examples of street circus, including clowning, music, aerial acrobatics, juggling and fakirisme.
The Circonauta Festival is now a project that aims to promote the circulation of circus arts, theatre, dance and street music, to enhance the territory and its historic centres, to facilitate human relations, the art of smiling, it aims to make us become part of a dream. The event is distinguished by its organisational characteristics and the care taken over the set-up, the choice of artistic proposals, the artisans' market, where it is possible to appreciate original and sought-after productions, its "derive", or landings. An open-air festival, hosted by the city of Nardò (Lecce), an icon of Salento's baroque.
Its visual identity is characterised by a different colour each year and it was the dream of a group of friends who, inspired by their love of the area and the culture of street art and circus, decided to create an event that could be a driving force for the growth of a community and the enhancement of the area towards a cultural tourism aiming at deseasonalization.
The Circonauta Association is also committed to education (through the Circonauta workshops to under 12 children), and to artistic training through the organisation of specialised workshops in the contemporary circus sector.
Each edition of Circonauta also hosts "derive” , artistic entertainment of various kinds, which find their place in the festival framework. The project is currently engaged in a phase of "intersection" with other similar realities of the Italian and international scene, creating a stable partnership whose purpose is to strengthen the networking of different experiences and promote collaboration in the artistic offer.
The Festival also aims to interact with the local realities existing on the territory in order to create links and collaborations that can allow the event to be enriched with new proposals and offers for its audience.
