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Program Profile
 Our Partners
MACHINCUEPA - CIRCUS
Pueblito Canada and partners, CEJUV and Cirque du Soleil launched Machincuepa - Circus in 1995 in Mexico City. The program is designed to target youth at risk, specifically those young people living on the streets in the fringe communities of Mexico City. The goal of the program is to provide a positive personal experience for these yound people, using the practice of circus arts to create a sense of identity and build self esteem.
OUR PARTNERS
Machincuepa – Circus is a partnership of three organizations – Pueblito Canada, CEJUV and Cirque du Soleil. The program participants are chosen by our local partner CEJUV. They provide the trainers, maintain communications with the families and act as mentors. The practice of circus arts is a real draw to street youth as it enables them to develop a new type of relationship with a society that has often rejected them. The challenges of performing circus acts also teach them to set goals and to work hard to achieve them.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL is one of the key organizations involved in this extremely effective program. The training workshops have been developed in conjunction with their international social outreach network called Cirque du Monde. Every year, Cirque du Soleil sends a professional circus performer to Mexico City to provide local project coordinators with the expertise they need to run the program. This artist then remains in Mexico City working with trainers at the bi-weekly sessions and overseeing the final circus production to which the entire local community is invited.
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More than Circus Arts…
As a result of Machincuepa-Circus, 15 youth have entered the academic mentoring program. The workshops focus on themes of adolescence, HIV/AIDS and drug addiction.
Supporting Families
The organizing committee of parents meets monthly and attends workshops for parents supporting those themes addressed in the youth workshops.
Community Involvement
The Machincuepa Social Circus performs in various community festivals and at special events benefiting other programs. They also mounted a special production for their own mothers on Mother’s Day.
Here in Toronto
In May Pueblito Canada hosted a visit from the project coordinator in Mexico City – Juan Carlos Hernandez of CEJUV. While here Juan Carlos visited programs for youth at risk in Toronto and made a special presentation about Machincuepa Social Circus to Canadian colleagues.
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