Meet our new 2022-2023 ESC volunteers!

The European Solidarity Corps programme supports young people aged 18-30 to be full-time volunteers in many foreign countries, and this year our volunteers are from Turkey, Italy and Serbia.

What city/country are you from?

I am from Istanbul, Turkey, which has the largest city population in the European area! The population of Istanbul officially 16 million but is unofficially is 20-22 million.

What were you doing before you came to Galway to volunteer at GCC? Or what is your circus/arts background if you have one?

I don’t have any background or training in circus, but I have some experience in the arts. I made a short film with friends, and we won an award! Also, when I was 16, I wrote a song, recorded it in a music studio, and published it online. In Turkey I have worked in several art jobs. I worked in an arts and culture foundation as an assistant to the production team. I worked in film festivals, a jazz festival, a theatre festival, a children’s festival, the Istanbul Biennial, and an art gallery. I also worked for an organisation that hosts special art events.

What will you be doing/are you doing this year at Galway Community Circus?

I am volunteering as an arts administration assistant. I will be supporting the production of Galway Community Circus events and projects for the Circus school, specifically working on the Circus Library and the Mayhem Youth Circus Festival. I will also work on the dissemination plan for ESC project at GCC.

What are you looking forward to learning while volunteering at Galway Community Circus?

I am sure that I will improve my work skills at Galway Community Circus. My English has already started to improve by speaking in the workplace environment. I believe that I will be 100% ready to work in bigger English-speaking job roles. I will also be improving my computer skills in management while volunteering at Galway Community Circus.

What city/country are you from?

I'm from Luserna San Giovanni, a small town close to Torino, in Italy.

What were you doing before you came to Galway to volunteer at GCC? Or what is your circus/arts background if you have one?

I graduated from an art high school last summer. I did artistic gymnastics for thirteen years before starting to try various disciplines in circus, which I had always been fascinated by since I watched some circus shows as a kid. In summer 2021 I took part in a one-week-long circus exchange with two other schools, and later I took part in social circus seminars. These things together with reading about circus and getting constant stimulation by both people I know and don’t know keep renewing my curiosity towards circus arts. For the last year and a half, I've been involved in Pirilampo Scuola di Circo as a student, volunteer, and tutor assistant.

What will you be doing/are you doing this year at Galway Community Circus?

This year I will be a circus tutor assistant at Galway Community Circus!

What are you looking forward to learning while volunteering at Galway Community Circus?

I’m looking forward to gaining broader knowledge in social circus and how a circus school works as a company and a charity. I’m also looking forward to improving my teaching and circus skills (and trying new ones) and absorbing all I can from the amazing people I have around at GCC!

This time here will be a very big life experience navigating professional life, different cultures, places and responsibilities in which I hope to create as many new and unexpected connections as possible!

What city/country are you from?

I come from Novi Sad, Serbia.

What were you doing before you came to Galway to volunteer at GCC? Or what is your circus/arts background if you have one?

Before coming here, I was a part of a little circus back home called Kreativni pogon (meaning “creative drive”). I can’t really say much about my life before it, except that it looks like I must’ve done something right. Meanwhile my luck is somewhere, sulking in the corner, whispering to itself “show-off…”. Anyway. It wasn’t a very big circus, or a very old one, so I was able to meet the people who created it from scratch, and I was just in time to be alongside a handful of other “volunteers” who are now helping the circus grow. I say “volunteers” though it’s not really the right word… because I don’t remember anyone really searching for any of those. I do remember us just being very welcome there and not wanting to leave.

What will you be doing/are you doing this year at Galway Community Circus?

Here at Galway Community Circus I’m a tutor’s assistant. And by “assisting” I mostly mean helping out, teaching circus, learning circus, and well, maybe sometimes just making things more complicated than they need to be. And by “maybe”, I mean “surely”. And by “sometimes” I mean… more often than sometimes.

What are you looking forward to learning while volunteering at Galway Community Circus?

Circus. 😊

What city are you from?

I’m from Instabul, Turkey. Istanbul is a very magical city. It has hosted many legends throughout history. People from many different cultures, beliefs and lifestyles live there together. Istanbul, one of the oldest cities in the world, was the beginning of my journey.

What were you doing before you came to Galway to volunteer at GCC? Or what is your circus/arts background?

I graduated from the Department of Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy at Istanbul University. During my university life, I worked in many theatres and wrote reviews for magazines and newspapers. I was included in the festival criticism team at the International Istanbul Theatre Festival. The children's theatre text I wrote for the theatre project for young writers in Germany was chosen. This encouraged me to work in a new field and I worked as a drama teacher in many schools. I started physical theatre school at the same time I was a teacher, and I worked on stage and body.

What will you be doing this year at Galway Community Circus?

I will be a tutor assistant. While helping with the students in many classes, I will also do drama exercises with the children and we will prepare a performance together at the end of the year.

What are you looking forward to learning while volunteering at Galway Community Circus?

I think that theatre includes many interdisciplinary arts. Dance, photography, performance, science, medicine and more. Circus arts is one of them. So first of all I want to learn circus skills. This is a new field for me. I also want to learn more about Ireland. I want to improve my English, talk to local people and listen to the myths and stories.

GCC's European Solidary Corps programme is supported by Erasmus+ and Leargas.