Another year has come to a close, and what a year it was for the IJA!
Our annual festival took place in El Paso, TX. In addition to phenomenal performances, competitions, and great times, the event also saw the return of The Gauntlet obstacle course, free brunch all week, and the biggest prize money given out in IJA history.
In 2017, we’ll celebrate our big 70th annual festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There are going to be a few changes and some surprises for next year in honor of this momentous occasion. Stay tuned for details coming soon!
The IRC program continues to host juggling competitions all over the world, and there are already several being planned for 2017. It’s thrilling to be able to continue to bring these events to different countries year after year.
Our online eJuggle content continues to expand with Tricks of the Month, exclusive interviews, and members only content. We have a lot more lined up for 2017, including new Tricks of the Month contributors, previously unreleased vintage juggling footage, festival videos and more!
At the end of 2016, we also launched our long-awaited new website at www.juggle.org. The new site features a much more user friendly interface and modern design. Mind you, since we just recently launched, there are still a few technical kinks that we are working out, but we are extremely pleased to have this upgraded web presence.
We capped off 2016 by bringing back our annual Video Tutorial Contest. This year, we had one of our most successful years to date and had entries from 15 different countries! Thank you to all of our sponsors and to everyone who submitted a tutorial. Click here to see the full list of this year’s contest entries. If you are in a learning mood, don’t forget that you can also go back through the years and check out all the contest entries from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Wishing you a safe and fruitful new year,
Nathan Wakefield
IJA Chairman
Nathan Wakefield
Nathan is a juggler from Southeast Michigan. He first learned to juggle in college, and has written for the website Streetjuggling.com. He previously served as Chairman of the IJA and also held various officer positions. When he is not frantically trying to learn new manipulation skills, he enjoys producing music, acting, and watching horror films.