Apply to Attend a Festival or Training

Applicants can apply for festival tickets to our partnered events. Travel support may also be available in the same application. Please note that travel stipends are currently VERY limited.

• A BIPOC steering committee created principles and values that guide decision-making in the selection process

• Applications are collected via an online portal that is available for ~2 weeks during each application session. Applicants rank-order the festivals they want to attend from our list of partner festivals

• All submissions are de-identified (names removed and replaced with ID numbers) so the applications are anonymous

• Applications are entered into a lottery system, with weights according to the BIPOC committee’s guiding principles, to select winners

• BACCES notifies winners via the email supplied on the application form. Selection occurs shortly after the application window closes. Check your application submission for exact notification dates and timelines

• BACCES maintains a waitlist for each festival in case some initial winners are not able to accept their awards. Notifications from the waitlist happen on a rolling basis, and waitlisted applicants are still selected by anonymous lottery

The only eligibility criterion for our application process is being BIPOC and wanting to attend one of our partnered festivals. There are no merit or financial-based criteria.

A paid BIPOC steering committee created criteria and weightings for application reviews. Black and Indigenous applicants are favored, and we endeavor to achieve a mix of new/experienced and local/traveling acrobats.

All applications are processed anonymously using a lottery system to select winning award recipients based on available funds. Black and Indigenous applicants are weighted, but winners are selected at random based on their ranked preferences.

If you receive an award through BACCES, you will be asked to sign an agreement acknowledging your receipt of the award and your intention to participate in the festival, training or event you applied for. You agree to give BACCES advance notice if your circumstances change and you can no longer participate as anticipated so that we can re-grant your award; you acknowledge that a failure to notify us may mean you are not eligible to receive future awards.

In addition, BACCES' values include reciprocity, community care, accountable relationships, mutual aid, representation, and bodily autonomy. In order for us to stay in integrity with these values, and in a supportive relationship with you, we expect all recipients of BACCES awards/resources to show up in the following ways, both inside of and outside of acro and the broader circus community:

• Respect: We aspire to show up with respect for the spaces we inhabit, and the humanity of the people we are in community with. This includes:

  • Practicing asking consent explicitly, and receiving and respecting “yes’s” “no’s” and “maybe’s” for physical touch, social and emotional connection. We seek affirmative, voluntary, and ongoing agreement, particularly in physical, emotional, or digital engagements where ambiguity could arise.

  • Honoring the desires, needs, and limits of the people around us and spaces we inhabit. This includes acknowledging, acting upon, and respecting clear boundary requests, either directly or through a community moderator.

  • Empowering ourselves and others to express desires, needs, and limits honestly. 

• Reciprocity + Collective Care: We aspire to find balance with the exchange of resources, energy, attention, patience, and power within a community. This includes tuning into who is providing energetic, emotional, educational, logistical, and domestic labor in the spaces we enter, and noticing where we can offer/ask for support and set supportive boundaries.

• Repair: We aspire to name and address racial injustice, cultural mis-appropriation and micro- and macro- aggressions around race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, class, culture, and religious beliefs as a communal healing practice. This includes: 

  • Practicing giving and receiving open and honest feedback about behavior that affects the community’s ability to thrive.

  • Taking responsibility for harm we cause, whether intentional or unintentional, including crossing boundaries, violating agreements, disrespecting identities, or engaging in culturally harmful actions. We recognize that mistakes can occur in the process of unlearning harm, and we aspire to listen, understand, constructively respond, and engage in repair when harm occurs.

  • Remaining open to receiving supportive resources to unlearn carceral, controlling, and supremacist behavior.

  • Investing in creating a culture of integrity and care, and working to create an uphold a welcoming and inclusive environment.  

BACCES is committed to transformative justice practices, recognizing that harm and mistakes are part of the learning process. If your actions are not in alignment with these values, BACCES will request a process for accountability. Access to BACCES resources, including current or future awards, may be temporarily revoked pending additional information from this accountability process.

You can learn more about how we do accountability on our incident reporting page.

Applications Open: Nov 3

Applications Close: Nov 17

Notifications Sent: Nov 19

Responses Due: Dec 3

Check out our resources page and this help sheet!