Journey Through Inclusion with Craig Quat
Craig Quat’s journey on the Circus Voices podcast might have ended, but his functional juggling adventure continues. Now in this video, he takes us back to where his juggling story all began and shares how an idea can become a movement.
Over the last four weeks, Craig Quat joined other pioneering circus artists from around the globe in the “Portraits of Inclusion” series, where they explored both the issues closest to them and their respective journeys to make change through making art. But these conversations are just one small part of Craig’s ongoing quest to share his circus with the world. Since his first encounter with juggling as a child, Craig has known that introducing someone to a simple game can bring them a lifetime of inspiration… and has spent more than a decade working alongside others to carry that vision to as many people as possible. Want to learn how?
In this unofficial 5th episode, Craig offers us an inspiring portrait of his life—and, ergo, of the functional juggling movement itself: those stories are one and the same. Craig’s story is a tale that spans from primary schools to social circus conferences, and from the New York City suburbs to Concepción, Chile. It is a tale of taking the disadvantages that one is born with and working with them. It is a tale about dreaming differently, meeting people (and oneself) wherever they are, and finding the good in even the worst situations.
He is well known for creating revolutionary learning tools such as the Juggle Board, which uses a series of lanes to roll balls back-and-forth between partners, as opposed to having to throw and catch them. Additionally, he is also responsible for organizing a global movement of social circus practitioners who are collaboratively dedicated to the goal of enhancing new teaching methods through adaptation and re-imagination. Craig has collaborated extensively and traveled to visit many circus groups and cultures from around Europe and in both of the Americas over the past 12 years of his project development.
In 2014 he was the first recipient of the Award for Innovation by the American Youth Circus Organization, and in 2016 he received the Excellence in Education Award from the International Jugglers Association.
He is currently based in Argentina and preparing to embark on a two-year tour of Latin America and Europe that will include new project elements, such as documentation and distribution of information about all the interesting and diverse circus cultures he continues to visit.
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