 www.juggle.org |
IJA eNewsletter November 2024Editors: Don Lewis & Martin Frost (ijanews@juggle.org) |
Happy Holidays !!
CONTENTS
- IJA Board Chair updates
- Wrapping up the year
- Ancient Juggling Survey!
- Evansville walking tour & pub crawl
- Call for letters of interest for 2026 & 2027 IJA Festival Directors
- Aspiring professional jugglers: Consider applying to Circadium
- How IJA festival cities are chosen (Part 1 of 3)
- YJA Badge Book
- IJA Board meetings
- Latest articles in eJuggle
IJA Board Chair updates by Benjamin Domask-Ruh
Hello IJA Community!
First and foremost, thank you to everyone who reached out after last month’s newsletter. It was great hearing how long people have been members, stories, connecting jugglers to local clubs, and hearing from some of our life members! It is wonderful to see the ripples in communication!
As we fall into the final month of 2024 (which is STILL a valid siteswap if you haven’t juggled it, yet), I find myself wondering, “Where has the time gone?” So much has happened in the juggling world this year. In fact, have you seen the videos our friends around the world released in November alone? IJA’s Tricks of the Month program posted these two incredible jugglers this month: Footbag by Jarleko from Colombia and Hoop & SoccerJuggling by Alin Ruiz from Mexico. Outside of IJA programming we were treated to Ameron’s new ideas and Arttu’s explosive ring juggling.
Watching the creativity and ingenuity of our global juggling community reminds me that the scope of juggling is truly infinite. It’s tempting to think that the limits have been reached and there are no new ideas under the sun. For me, the beauty – the draw – of juggling is its infinite quality. Even tricks from yesteryear are bubbling up in beautiful new ways through new technology and the ingenuity of jugglers looking back with a 21st century lens. This draws me into our art form and sport deeper, and I am thrilled to think of what we (jugglers) will uncover or develop next.
With that being said, these ideas can come from ANY juggler – beginner or seasoned juggler. If you are sitting on some concepts (or videos from 20 years ago), we’d love to see it! I encourage you to put together a compilation and share your own ideas as you develop them. YouTube, Instagram, and even Juggling Home on Facebook are always available, and make sure to @ijajugglers and #ijajugglers so we can see! I know I often say to myself, “Well, it’s good… but not good enough to share.” Which just isn’t true!
I am trying to bring these same inspiring ideas of creativity and innovation as we continue working on our organization’s operations (the IJA). Some aspects of running an organization are standardized legal procedures. But looking for opportunities to be creative, fun, and a chance to do something new is always on our minds. As always, the success of the IJA has always come from our community. The board’s job is to keep us going fiscally while listening to the members’ needs and wants. One way we can come together is to support the IJA through donations. December 3rd is Giving Tuesday! If you are able, consider making a tax-deductible donation on this day. What do your donations support? Take a peak below! Our Treasurer has shared some of the amazing work the IJA community has done in the last year! And if that isn’t in your wheelhouse, consider inviting your non-member juggling friends to become IJA members, today! Our membership dues help keep the programs running.
If there is any specific information you would like to hear about, please do not hesitate to reach out at: ija.chair@juggle.org! As a member, you are ALWAYS welcome to attend our board meetings by sending me an email for a Zoom link. Or you can see what the board discussed each month by reading the minutes.
Sincerely Juggling,
Benjamin Domask-Ruh
IJA Board Chair
Wrapping up the year by Afton Benson, IJA Treasurer
As we continue our cascade towards the end of the calendar year, I always begin thinking about my charitable donations. The IJA will be doing a fundraiser for Giving Tuesday (December 3rd), a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. The IJA is able to provide the multiple programs we have through the generosity of people, like you, who donate.
Your membership and donations support: the IRC program, Championships, Numbers Competition, Joggling Competition, eJuggle, Youth Juggling Academy (YJA), Scholarship funds and more! Support of these programs ensured that in 2024:
- Club YJA happened at the IJA, providing a space for over 20 youth to build community and grow their skills.
- IJA Championships had competitors in all categories for the first time since 2016.
- 14 people received support to attend the 2024 IJA Festival in Green Bay, WI.
- 55 people had the opportunity to compete in the IRC’s in 3 different countries.
Our goal is $3,000! Please consider supporting the IJA now or on December 3rd for Giving Tuesday. Here are some things you can do to help:
- Donate. Any donation, no matter the size, has a great impact!
- If you work for a company, ask your employer if they have a policy of matching employee donations. If they do, this would double your gift! Lots of places do this, but many people don’t know about it.
- Share. Invite friends to come to the next IJA Festival, to donate, or to become a member. Sharing IJA Instagram & Facebook posts goes a long way to ensuring we’re able to render assistance to jugglers around the world.
If you have any questions about how your donation helps, or if you’re interested in being a matching donor, please don’t hesitate to reach out at treasurer@juggle.org.
All the best,
Afton Benson
IJA Treasurer
Ancient Juggling Survey! by Thom Wall
Around 4,000 years ago, Egyptian painters decorated two tombs in a funerary complex near the village of Beni Hasan.
Each of these tombs contain paintings of women who appear to be juggling. Some of these women appear to be juggling different juggling patterns. We are collecting data from today’s jugglers, asking them to identify each pattern.
Be a part of modern Egyptological research! Submit your perspective.
Questions can be directed to thom@thomwall.com.
Evansville walking tour & pub crawl by Mike Sullivan
Get to know your IJA hometown for festival week with a fun, casual walking tour of all our festival venues and downtown Evansville on Monday afternoon, July 14th, 2025.
We’ll step off about 2pm from the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel, and cruise through our juggling spaces in the Old National Events Center before popping in to have a look at the gorgeous Victory Theater. Then we’ll have a leisurely stroll through downtown, pointing out and stopping into several great (but sometimes hidden!) restaurants and bars.
There’s plenty to eat and drink in downtown Evansville, but some of the best spots are not easy to find. Your guide for the day has been there, done that and knows all the hidden gems you’ll want to sample during the week.
Our tour is just $25 per person, and includes three local draft beer pints at stops along the way and check-ins at over a dozen other spots close to our IJA venues. We’ll wind up at a local dinner favorite for an optional group dinner with your old and new IJA friends.
Make sure you’re in Evansville on the 14th in time to join us! Tickets will be on sale when festival registration opens early next year.
See you then!
Call for letters of interest for 2026 & 2027 IJA Festival Directors
by Ross Berenson
Are you passionate about curating unforgettable experiences for the juggling community? Do you thrive in dynamic environments where creativity and organization intersect? Join our team as a Festival Director and play a pivotal role in shaping the 2026 or 2027 IJA Festivals. The IJA would love to hear from those who are interested! We’re beginning earlier than usual to give future festival directors additional time to work their magic. The goal is to provide extra time for more opportunities, allow time for them to shadow current directors, and collaborate with former directors.
The 79th IJA Festival will be in Fort Wayne, IN, during the week of July 27–August 2, 2026.
The 80th IJA Festival will be in Cedar Rapids, IA, during the week of July 11–17, 2027.
Responsibilities:
- Organize the week long festival.
- Oversee all aspects of festival planning, from conceptualization to execution, ensuring seamless coordination and exceptional attendee experiences.
- Collaborate with the board, volunteers, artists, vendors, sponsors, venues and local partners, to align on goals.
- Develop and manage budgets, timelines, and resources.
- Choose to lead a team of your choosing, providing guidance, support, and clear communication to ensure everyone is aligned with the festival’s vision and objectives.
- Craft shows that highlight the vibrant spirit of our community and embody the core values of our organization. Let’s showcase the very best of who we are and what we stand for!
- Implement comprehensive marketing and promotional strategies to drive attendance and enhance the festival’s visibility and reputation.
- Evaluate the success of the festival through post-event analysis and feedback collection, identifying areas for improvement and innovation.
- Festival director will have the opportunity to travel to the festival site, a number of months prior to the event with some of their team.
Compensation: $7,000 USD.
Past festival directors and the board are here to cheer you on and help guide you whenever you need it! While some parts of the festival, like the competitions and shows, are tried and true favorites, there’s also plenty of room for you to toss in your own ideas and make this experience unique! So, let’s team up and have a blast creating something unforgettable, together!
If you’re excited about the opportunity but not completely sure if this position is right for you, reach out by January 31, 2025, to the IJA Chair at ija.chair@juggle.org.
If you are ready to apply, send an email of interest stating:
- Why you’d like to be the Festival Director
- Any experience you have organizing events and volunteers
- The year(s) you’re interested in
- New (or old) ideas you would like to bring to the festival and the IJA community
Aspiring professional jugglers: Consider applying to Circadium
by Shana Kennedy
Circadium is the only licensed and accredited higher-education program for circus in the United States. As a 3-year, full-time program that grants a Diploma of Circus Arts, Circadium is uniquely able to prepare jugglers for professional careers in contemporary circus. Our curriculum includes technical circus disciplines (juggling, aerials, acrobatics), theatre and dance, and a range of academic courses, from History of Circus to Dramaturgy to Career Planning. Details can be found at https://circadium.edu/admissions/.
Jugglers who have graduated from Circadium include Delaney Bayles, Zak McAllister, Stephen Doutt, Liam Bradley, Liam Halstead, Kira DiPietrantonio, Josh Mosier, Josh Spaugh, Erin Gettelman, Copper Santiago, and Thomas Miller.
The application for 2025 opens December 1, with a deadline of January 31.
If you are excited by the work of juggling innovators such as Greg Kennedy and Sean Gandini; if you are committed to full-time training and want to find a community of like-minded young adults; and if you’re dreaming of a life as a performing artist – we encourage you to apply to Circadium.
Join our next cohort of circus creators!
If you have any questions, contact info@circadium.edu.
How IJA festival cities are chosen (Part 1 of 3)
by Mike Sullivan, Senior Future Festival Site Coordinator
PART 1 – The convention business and IJA’s place in it
Whether you’ve been to one IJA festival or 20, or some number in-between, you might wonder exactly how IJA decides where to hold a festival.
In this article, the first of a series, we’ll look at the convention business, and where IJA’s festival fits in it.
The convention business
The business of meetings, conventions, festivals like ours, and thousands of other group travel events is almost unimaginably huge. Entire cities, like Las Vegas, Orlando, San Francisco, Chicago and many more depend on a large meetings and conventions business to keep their downtowns, hotels, airports, taxis, buses, restaurants and bars busy.
Those facilities employ thousands of local workers, bring millions or billions of dollars into their economy, and provide a base upon which they can build and sustain many other amenities, such as sports arenas, stadiums, concert halls, museums, performance theaters, and convention and civic centers.
Smaller cities work hard to bring in meetings and conventions to do the same: keep their hotels and convention facilities busy so that they are viable, for the benefit of their local populations.
For example, without a steady stream of convention and other tourism coming into a city like Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the city could not afford to operate the number and quality of the facilities we use for our event.
Then they would not be able to bring in other attractions like music concerts, sports events and community events for their own citizens to enjoy. And besides the cultural benefits those venues make possible, those venues also create jobs for local workers, bring in tax and event revenue, and keep the city attractive for their citizens.
Without amenities like these, smaller cities risk losing population to other cities that can offer such attractions, and that can lead to a death spiral of de-population, loss of tax revenue, no re-investment into the public facilities funded by those taxes, and a dying city.
Our place in this world
Some festivals are enormous, and cities spend millions — or billions! — to win the rights to host them.
The Olympics, for example — think of it as the world’s largest sports festival. Cities bid for the Olympic Games more than a decade in advance, and then must often build everything from new airports and subway systems to giant stadiums, aquatic centers, luge runs, thousands of apartments for housing athletes, and much more.
Tokyo, for example, built more than 100 new hotels in the metro area in advance of their hosting of the 2020 Summer Games, and replaced millions of signs across Japan with new ones in four languages (Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese) to accommodate the expected 3 million extra visitors for the Games.
When the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Tokyo games into 2021, Japan still benefitted from the improvements they made for the Olympics, but lost billions from the delayed Games and greatly-reduced attendance.
And there are large, but shorter, city-wide events like the annual Super Bowl, Miami’s Art Basel, the New York Marathon, and the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, then ranging down to huge events in smaller cities like Daytona Beach’s Bike Week, Albuquerque’s International Balloon Fiesta, and the EAA Airshow in tiny Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The IJA’s festival is decidedly at the other end of the spectrum. Unless LeBron James gives up basketball to take up club passing, or Taylor Swift stops singing and masters the diabolo, our event will never be able to visit 1st- or 2nd-tier cities that host much, much larger groups.
Those cities are far, far too big, and far, far too expensive for our group. Additionally, they have all the convention business they can handle, with hundreds of large groups filling their convention hotels and convention centers. We couldn’t afford those rates, and we’d get lost in their huge downtowns.
So we find the best fit for our needs in tertiary cities where we can fill most or all of their convention space and convention hotel for a week. Everything we need — hotel, juggling space, performance theater and lots of moderately-priced restaurants and bars — is all within a short walk in a compact, safe downtown.
How big is our event?
Our event is just big enough to be attractive to the cities we choose for our festivals. If it got just a little bit smaller, we’d face a real struggle to get the attention of the kinds of cities we have chosen in the past 15 years or so. Then we’d be forced to find cities to host us that don’t even have a commercial airport, or a convention or civic center, to say nothing of a vibrant downtown or a gorgeous performance theater.
Our festival week soaks up around 1,200 hotel room/nights during our week. A room/night is one hotel room sold for one night. In our week, we fill about 220 hotel rooms on each of our peak nights, Thursday through Saturday. The other 500 room/nights come from the jugglers slowly filling the hotel earlier in the week.
With a track record of being able to sell that many hotel rooms, we are able to negotiate the other aspects of the deal we need to make the finances work. We work hard to get very, very low rates for the huge amount of convention center space we need for our gym and other juggling spaces, as well as four nights rental of a performance theater.
The city also likes our group because we are a “long length of stay” group. Our average length of stay in 2024 was 5.4 nights. That’s better for the hotel (they don’t have to turn over the room as often) and better for the downtown restaurants and bars (more meals and drinks). Our group typically eats over 10,000 restaurant meals while we’re in town.
Filling the hotel is the key to our entire effort. Without the $150,000 or so of hotel revenue we bring in — in downtown in the middle of summer — we would have a very, very hard time booking the other venues we need at affordable rates, or getting any support from the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
If you haven’t noticed, the rates we negotiate for our festival hotels really are exceptional. Anyone who stayed at the Hyatt Regency Green Bay this year can appreciate the bargain those rooms were, connected to our gym and workshops, at just $109/night.
We get no credit — and no love from the city or the CVB — if our jugglers stay at a short-term rental property like an AirBnB, VRBO or the like. No credit, either, when they crash on the couch of a local juggling friend. Those jugglers and those nights don’t show up on anyone’s report, and the CVB cannot measure the economic impact our event made in their city. It’s as if those jugglers never came to town at all.
Filling the convention hotel is the key that unlocks all the other doors we need opened for our festival.
Without it, we literally could not put the other pieces together that we need to make our week work.
When I’m asked what an IJA member can do to help the IJA the most, I say “stay in our festival hotel.” It’s the biggest single thing that makes the most positive contribution to keeping our festival viable, affordable, and hassle-free.
NEXT MONTH: Finding potential festival destinations
YJA Badge Book
Did you know that the IJA’s Youth Juggling Academy has a book? It does!
The Juggler’s Badge Book is the ultimate companion for aspiring jugglers of any age! Track your progress, unlock achievements, and earn badges as you learn the art of juggling. With its engaging format and rewarding sticker system, The Juggler’s Badge Book makes learning to juggle an exciting and fulfilling adventure. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned juggler, let The Juggler’s Badge Book be your guide to skillful juggling and a collection of well-earned accomplishments. Start achieving your juggling journey today!
The Juggler’s Badge Book is $25 and makes a great gift! Purchase yours today! Proceeds go to supporting further YJA initiatives and advancing the IJA’s mission to render assistance to fellow jugglers.
Published by the International Jugglers’ Association in collaboration with Modern Vaudeville Press.
IJA Board meetings
IJA Board meetings are open to all IJA members and are hosted on Zoom. To find out the times of this month’s vision and business meetings, or to attend, please email ija.chair@juggle.org and say which meeting you’re interested in.
Latest articles in eJuggle
- November 29, 2024 – Juggling Interviews Episode 9: Alexander Koblikov | Hosted by XavJuggles
- November 20, 2024 – The First Public Video of Albert Lucas’ Historic 13-Ring Flash
- November 18, 2024 – The Bottle, Poles, And Table Balance Trick
- November 11, 2024 – The Cigar Box Knock Away Trick
- November 10, 2024 – The Tragic Story of Léa d’Asti
- November 09, 2024 – Kitty Traney – Juggler and Animal Trainer
- November 08, 2024 – Protected: Two Legends about Juggling
- November 06, 2024 – Hoop & Soccer Juggling by Alin Ruiz from Mexico | IJA Tricks of the Month
- November 05, 2024 – Youna: New Information and Photos
- November 03, 2024 – The Hands-On Corner of The Museum of Juggling History
This message was sent to Ian Loughlin, ian@dangerfun.com, by the International Jugglers’ Association. If you wish to stop receiving email from us, you can unsubscribe by visiting: http://ym.juggle.org/members/EmailOptPreferences.aspx?id=33613910&e=ian@dangerfun.com&h=fe3874bd427ef27158521b9ef2ac776f0d030cb8
International Jugglers’ Association
PO Box 580005
Kissimmee, Florida 34758