What a week!
It’s hard to know where to begin—there’s just so much to say! But first and foremost: thank you. Huge thanks to Arts Council England for backing our Vision25 strategy, and to Nate Ballew for pulling together the incredible #LAWW25 programme. Massive appreciation to Jen Hamilton, Andy Penhallurick, Hauk Pattison, Ruth Allden, Rhian Motion, and Kelly Casey for delivering such a powerful and inspiring week of learning.
A special shoutout to Empress, Jen, Iris, Yonatan and the team at Bertz Associates and Skate Buddies for an unforgettable film showing Rolling at the Tower—and for throwing the ultimate Skate Jam party!
Lastly, a heartfelt thank you to all our incredible partner organisations who took part in the training. Your engagement and commitment to bringing these insights back to your teams helped make this week truly memorable.
Grab a cuppa and take a deep dive into our week to learn more about what we got up to!
So, lets jump in. Our theme this year was ‘Get Connected’ and we wanted to bring our team together with performing arts schools and activity providers across our region to start conversations on how we work together more.
Monday
We launched into Monday with a burst of inspiration during our Autism & ADHD Awareness session, powerfully led by the amazing Jen Hamilton. It was eye-opening, moving, and set an electrifying tone for an unforgettable week of learning!
In the afternoon, things stayed high-energy with an in-depth rigging workshop from our brilliant Rigging Manager, Andy Penhallurick. Rigging is a constantly evolving field, and Andy drove home just how vital it is to stay sharp, stay safe, and look out for one another on and off the ground.
“It’s a great opportunity to hear from others, learn best practices, and gain experience from different environments—especially from our partners who were in the session”.
Nate Ballew – CircusMASH Development Coordinator
“It was very useful to understand how to do the calculations on load bearings for all of the equipment I use”.
Rhian – CircusMASH Head Coach
Tuesday
As part of Learning at Work Week, we ran a high-energy Chinese Pole teacher training workshop, giving educators the skills to safely and confidently teach this dynamic circus art. By equipping teachers across Birmingham, we’re helping to inspire the next generation of performers and bring world-class circus training to young people in the region.
One word: Ouch!
We’ll soon be delivering Chinese Pole classes at MASH so keep your eyes peeled. 👀
“House of MASH has made it accessible for me to come along and learn things I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn without them. It has increased my skills and knowledge.
It’s good for me to learn more about the equipment since I’m often around it. I’m not an aerialist, but during the Grand Opening show, I was thinking if anything went wrong, I wouldn’t know how to respond—so having some knowledge of this is very helpful.”
George Perez – Professional Dancer
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we had the pleasure of learning from Ruth Allden, who delivered a fantastic British Sign Language (BSL) training session. We explored key circus-related terms and gained practical skills to help make our work more accessible.
This training is a vital step toward greater inclusivity, ensuring we can better communicate, connect, and create welcoming spaces for D/deaf artists, participants, and audiences.
Learning at Work Week wasn’t just about in-person workshops – we took a blended approach to learning. We launched our new digital Coach Skills Training, giving the team flexible access to ongoing professional development.
This mix of digital learning and creative collaboration helped us grow both our skills and our connections with the wider community.
“When you raise the training and standards of your team, everyone in the community benefits.”
Nate Ballew – Development Coordinator, CircusMASH
“As educators, the more information and training we have the better we are at our job.”
Ashley J Russell – Principal, Class Act Theatrix
We also continued our Inclusion+ sessions, working with adults from the All Saints Youth Project to co-create a performance piece for our upcoming micro-musical, The Quest of Velvetina Stinger.
Hullabaloo is a trilogy of micro-musicals that is the third strand of our Vision25 Strategy. It is curated by a fantastic creative team and features community groups from across Birmingham and the black country including Class Act Theatrix, FPS Fitness, Jewels Academy, All Saints Youth Project, CDC Dance and Showtime Circus. You can catch the show this Summer!
“It’s important to have a good understanding of this kind of equipment—why it works, how the individual components function, and how they all work together. It’s also helpful to know the differences between each piece of rigging equipment”
Justina – Professional Performer
So much happened on Wednesday! How did we fit it all in? 😅
We’ve had the pleasure of running numerous workshops with Heineken over the years, one of our longstanding and valued clients. On Wednesday, Raquel & Nate went to Heineken in Manchester to run a team building session before their afternoon of CPD.
Their commitment to building strong, connected teams aligns perfectly with the power of circus to foster resilience, trust, and collaboration.
By using circus as a dynamic starting point for their team days, Heineken brings their values to life—showing passion for their people, the courage to try new things, a pioneering spirit in their approach to learning, and genuine care for both individuals and the wider world.
Thursday
On Thursday we dived into the world of Play with an energetic and eye-opening workshop led by Rhian and Kelly, fresh from their training with Ali Wood and Sue Smith from MAPA and Children’s Quarter.
Together, we explored what play really means, why it matters, and how it can break down barriers and spark true inclusion. It challenged us to think differently and showed how a playful approach can be a powerful force across all of CircusMASH—creating spaces where everyone can feel free, fearless, and fully themselves.
On Thursday afternoon, we had the privilege of taking part in a powerful Unconscious Bias workshop led by the brilliant Sipho from Strawberry Words. The session was engaging, challenging, and opened up honest conversations about the hidden biases we all carry.
Understanding unconscious bias is essential to creating truly inclusive environments—both in and beyond the circus world. This workshop gave us the tools to reflect, grow, and continue building a culture at CircusMASH where everyone feels seen, respected, and valued.
“The environment around us is constantly changing so we need to be changing with it and learning how to improve and adapt.”
Abbie Mason – FPS Fitness
Friday
No rest for us on Friday morning!
My sister Laura ran Little Cirque (for 0-5 years) and they even had a chance to try the Chinese Pole as we’d left it up for everyone to have a go before our new classes start next month. The circus stars of the future! On the far left is my youngest great nephew!
On Friday evening, we wrapped up the day with a heartwarming film screening of Rolling at the Tower, created by the brilliant Bertz Associates and Skate Buddies. The film captured powerful stories of community, movement, and joy on wheels. As if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to an incredible spread of traditional Ethiopian food, lovingly prepared by ‘Rolling at the Tower’ film director Yonatan Tiruneh and his amazing family. The flavours were as vibrant as the energy in the room—and yes, that’s Yonathan’s dad (and chef for the evening) showing off his moves on skates! It was a beautiful celebration of culture, creativity, and connection.
We had a whopping 80 people attend the film and Skate Jam!
“CircusMASH has given Skate Buddies a home. Collaboration and working together have given us the opportunity to teach people about the skate community and its existence.”
Empress Gibbs – Director, Skate Buddies UK
“Our core values are Diversity and Inclusion and we work across communities, inter-culturally. Our values really align with those of CircusMASH.”
Iris Bertz – Bertz Associates
It was not only our team that benefitted from Learning at Work Week.
We had 150 young people and 50 adult community members that visit our space for circus training. It is a super exciting time for us with an array of innovative circus training and wellbeing spaces for our community to connect, grow and learn how to achieve their impossible.
A final thank you to all of our team and partners who took part in the training. Your dedication to learning—and to sharing that knowledge within your own organisations—demonstrates your passion for growth, collaboration, and creating meaningful impact far beyond the sessions themselves.
Thanks to Jill, Nate, Rhian, Raquel, Matthew, Kelly, Ben, Abbie, Justina, Ashley, George, Ellie, Suki, Aben, Charlotte, Alem, Empress and Matthew.
I can honestly say Learning at Work Week was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had on the job. In recent years, my to-do list has felt never-ending—but this week gave me the chance to pause, reflect, and truly reconnect with our team and wider community.
CircusMASH LTD
2 Vicarage Road, Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7RA, United Kingdom
Registered Company Number: 08898783
Email: info@circusmash.co.uk
Telephone: 0121 439 2530
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