Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Kevin Rigby (Germany)
Age: 30
www.kevinrigby.de (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Music, theater, events and related cultural and entertainment services

Host entrepreneur:
Steve Cousins ()
Age: 43
www.letscircus.com (22 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Music, theater, events and related cultural and entertainment services

Steve Cousins is an entrepreneur involved in arts, entertainment, event management and education through his UK company Let's Circus. Through the EYE programme he found Kevin Rigby, who was in the process of developing his own business in the field of modern circus from Germany. Their planned project was to involve the production of complex circus events with international exchanges and develop both agency and education work. But then the year 2020 arrived and the pandemic meant that much of this was impossible for most of the project's duration. In order not to let a pandemic hinder entrepreneurial development, their project took the form of a physical exchange and changed its shape dramatically. For both Steve and Kevin, an important outcome of their common plan was to see how the other adapted to external forces and carried out successful projects that could not have been planned from the beginning. This ability to improvise on a foundation was a bonus of the exchange and a real entrepreneurial experience for both.

The most important result was the production of a film project in a year when it was very difficult to get live entertainment approved. Instead of a live performance, they both used their creative experience to create a digital recording. The biggest film project became a 48-minute film 'A Touch of Colour', which integrated local storytelling and circus into a popular, publicly accessible film and collaborative online event. The film can not only be seen as the culmination of a difficult year due to the pandemic, but also showed that resilience can pay off. The film was nominated for a prestigious cultural award in the North of England. From Steve's perspective, Kevin's technical skills in aerial photography enabled the launch of many new products. Kevin was instrumental in bringing various artistic skills to site-specific and cultural / heritage performances at Let us Circus.

Kevin and Steve even gained regional recognition when the above project was nominated for the 'Best Event' category at the Journal Culture Awards. Kevin's technical production experience was invaluable to the project and Steve would have had a much lower production value without Kevin's involvement - drone pilots, pyrotechnics, lighting and camera work were all involved. Kevin gained an extensive knowledge of artist relations and managing projects in the modern circus sector. He gained great insights and opportunities to manage his personal time and artistic resources and develop unique, site-specific concepts. Kevin was able to expand on the knowledge and practical experience he gained at university, which gave him greater confidence to take the first steps towards his own artist management and show design business. Steve from Let us Circus and Kevin still work together and exchange ideas on various productions throughout the year.

For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
(, )

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
Baden-Württemberg International (Stuttgart, Germany)

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