House Circus Bingo was a large‑scale, participatory aerial circus and performance project led by Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre, developed in partnership with Kildare, Tipperary and Donegal County Council Arts Offices through the Arts Council’s Invitation to Collaboration scheme. Building on earlier iterations of Bingo Wings and HOUSE! (2019–2022), the project reimagined the familiar social ritual of bingo as a multi‑disciplinary, outdoor spectacle that brings professional artists and local communities together through play, performance and collective experience.
Delivered across three counties between January and November 2023, HOUSE! combined professional aerial performance with an extensive programme of community engagement, including five‑week creative residencies in each location, workshops, open aerial taster days and rehearsals. These activities culminated in large‑scale outdoor performances, staged in public car‑park settings, where community participants performed alongside professional aerialists in a live, drive‑in bingo and circus experience suitable for all ages.
At the heart of the project was an intergenerational and inclusive engagement model, designed to challenge assumptions about age, physical ability and access to the arts. Over 2,000 community members took part in 122 workshops, with multiple routes to participation ranging from single workshop experiences to full integration into the live performances. Local Engagement Artists in each county played a key role in shaping the programme to respond to local needs, supporting long‑term relationships between artists, local authorities and community groups.
HOUSE! also incorporated professional development through the Soar Up programme, supporting recent dance graduates to upskill in aerial performance, community facilitation and professional production contexts. This layered approach ensured that collaboration operated at multiple levels, between local authorities, artists, facilitators, emerging professionals and community participants, embedding participation and learning throughout the project’s structure.
The project demonstrated the value of sustained, cross‑county collaboration in delivering ambitious public spectacle while prioritising community wellbeing, inclusion and shared ownership. HOUSE! created opportunities for people to encounter, learn and perform aerial arts in their own localities, strengthening connections between communities and contemporary circus practice, and providing a scalable model for future collaborative, place‑based arts projects.