Phare, The Cambodian Circus is touring France!

Phare Circus (Cambodia) © Oyen Rodriguez

Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) is a social enterprise created in 2012 at the initiative of Phare Ponleu Selpak ("The Light of the Arts"), a Cambodian NGO that has been working for over 20 years to provide access to quality education and artistic training for children in great need. Today, the NGO educates over 1,000 children and has over 300 students in its performing arts school located in Battambang. It offers these young artists classes in circus, theater, music, and dance through 4- to 6-year professionalization programs.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a shareholder in PPSE since 2013 and provides financial support for the development of its projects, including Phare Cafe, Phare Boutique, and Phare, The Cambodian Circus. PPSE has also received technical assistance through the Solidarity Bankers program in 2019 and 2020.

Phare, The Cambodian Circus was created to provide employment opportunities to young students and graduates of the Phare Ponleu Selpak Circus (PPSA) programs. 80% of the dividends generated are donated to the PPSA association to ensure the project's sustainability. The initiative is a success: Phare artists perform every night under a big top in Siem Reap and their performances have attracted more than 100,000 spectators since opening in 2013. They have also toured extensively around the world: in Asia, Australia, the United States, and Europe. The Crédit Agricole group also had the privilege of welcoming the troupe to its Montrouge campus in 2015. In eight years, Phare, The Cambodian Circus has become one of Cambodia's most innovative social enterprise models.

Don't miss the opportunity to discover their work during their French tour between November and December 2021. "White Gold," the title of their show, is a periphrasis for rice, omnipresent in Cambodian daily life and imagination. It is the central element of the scenography and brings a poetic dimension to the prowess of the artists who perform juggling and acrobatics with poetry and energy. Much more than a circus show, Phare performances are unique in the world: they combine dance, theater, live music, and circus arts. Breathtaking.

Book your tickets: //pharecircus.org/or-blanc-france-2021/