Participation in circus arts significantly benefits young Australians’ mental health, self-confidence and social connections, according to a new report.
Commissioned by Northern Rivers-based regional company Spaghetti Circus and developed in collaboration with leading research agency Patternmakers, the report examines young people’s experiences of creating and performing in the 2023 Spaghetti Circus production, Monumental.
The original production of Monumental featured 15 performers aged from 12 to 21, with their experiences and insights highlighted in the report’s key findings:
- 88% of participants reported that involvement in circus arts positively impacted their overall wellbeing
- 94% of participants said they gained greater self-confidence
- 100% of participants noted that the program helped them connect with others and build lasting friendships
- 88% of participants felt the experience prepared them to face future challenges, and
- 82% were inspired to make healthier lifestyle choices.
“Obviously, working in the performing arts with young people, we see the benefits every day. But we were really curious to see if there was actual proof behind what our instinct tells us, that circus and performing arts improves wellbeing in young people,” Spaghetti Circus’ General Manager Alice Cadwell tells ArtsHub.
“Especially following on from the bushfires up here in 2019, then COVID and the floods [in 2017 and 2022], we really felt that we wanted to lean into that. So with our 2023 show Monumental, [created] with our guest directors from A Good Catch Circus, we really wanted to explore how beneficial the show was [for the youth ensemble].”
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A monumental undertaking
The new report, titled ‘Impact Evaluation of Performance Troupe 2023 Production‘, focuses on the Spaghetti Circus Performance Troupe’s 2023 season of Monumental, which premiered at the Brunswick Picture House in August that year.
The production had an encore season at the 2024 National Circus Festival, where the young participants performed to audiences of more than 3000 people across the Festival’s duration in Spaghetti Circus-owned Big Top; Spaghetti Circus was also invited to present Monumental at the 2024-2025 Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland.
Read: The National Circus Festival: growing grassroots circus in the regions
Monumental’s original iteration involved 15 performers aged 12 to 21 and engaged five stagehands. The second season at the National Circus Festival featured 21 performers aged 11 to 19; the subsequent Woodford Folk Festival season featured 14 performers aged 13 to 19 in daily shows from 27 December 2024 to 1 January 2025.
Spaghetti Circus’ Performance Troupe consists of 15 to 20 young people, usually aged between 12 and 18, who progress through Spaghetti’s circus school each year. The Performance Troupe work with guest directors to develop an original circus work every two years, of which Monumental was a recent example.
According to the report, Monumental gave participants an opportunity to create a positive, professional, high-quality performance they could be proud of – which they clearly were:
Extracts from the Spaghetti Circus/Patternmaker report: Chapter 5 Outcomes and Impact
Around eight in 10 participants (79%) strongly agreed that they were proud of the show…
Participating in Monumental enabled positive social interactions and helped foster a sense of belonging for the young people, with all participants agreeing that participating in the troupe helped them connect more with other people…
Participating in the troupe resulted in positive wellbeing outcomes for many, with around 9 in 10 (88%) agreeing the experience in the troupe was beneficial to their overall wellbeing.
Resilience in the face of catastrophe
The cascading and destructive series of events that repeatedly impacted the Northern Rivers region from 2019 to 2025 – with fears of a cyclone and ex-cyclone-related deluge being the latest challenge – meant that “our young people were in trauma,” Cadwell tells ArtsHub.
“So we were really curious to see how working positively over a period on a show – as an ensemble – could pull them together. The findings proved that we were absolutely right… And not only did it benefit the troupe [as the report’s key findings document, detailed above], it really benefited the audience as well. We had an amazing response from the audience who could really see those kids shining on stage, and the positive benefits to them and the community that this kind of work creates,” she says.
The arts’ lasting impact
The Spaghetti Circus/Patternmakers report is the latest in a series of studies commissioned and launched by Australian youth companies and documenting the positive mental health and wellbeing benefits of youth arts practices.
Such reports include Australian Theatre for Young People’s (ATYP) 2017 study, which found that young people’s anxiety levels decrease and their resilience increases when they engage with theatre, and similar studies from WA company Barking Gecko (which last year merged with AWESOME Arts to operate as Barking Gecko Arts) and Adelaide’s Cirkidz in 2019.
Read: Canberra Youth Theatre takes drastic steps to ensure its survival
The Cirkidz study, developed with researchers at the University of South Australia, found that young people who engage with circus arts show significant improvements in four areas of mental wellbeing: stress relief, self-esteem, confidence and socialisation.
Similarly, 48% of participants in the Gecko Ensemble program for children aged five to 17 reported it has had a positive effect on their anxiety levels.
Read: How circus and theatre support young people’s mental health
Spaghetti Circus and Patternmakers’ new report not only highlights the transformative impact of circus on regional youth, but also underscores its relevance for young people nationwide. As communities and policymakers seek solutions to support youth wellbeing, youth circus companies offer scalable, impactful approaches that can benefit young Australians from all walks of life.
Cadwell suggests Spaghetti Circus and Patternmakers’ report could bolster suggestions for a cross-department, whole-of-government approach to youth circus and youth theatre at both a state/territory and federal level – involving policymakers from Health, Youth and Education as well as the Arts departments – in order to capitalise on the now-proven benefits of youth circus arts.
“And as well as all the different departments, I think the report really shows that the performing arts [collectively] have this long-reaching impact on wellbeing, on social and emotional [benchmarks], all of those outcomes that we already know of – and we know what we’re seeing. So yes, absolutely, a whole-of-government approach will just be life changing, especially for these [Spaghetti Circus] kids.”
The role of youth circus in a climate and mental health crisis
Spaghetti Circus and Patternmakers’ report demonstrates the potential benefits of boosting youth circus initiatives – such as the programs already run by Brisbane’s Flipside Circus, Canberra’s Warehouse Circus, Adelaide’s Cirkidz School of Circus, Circus WA in Fremantle, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts’ work with Ludmilla Primary School in Darwin and, nationally, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in Albury-Wodonga – to help address young people’s wellbeing and strengthen social cohesion Australia-wide.
“We can see from the report that was done by Cirkidz in South Australia [in 2019] … that for every $1 spent in the arts there’s a $7 social return. And we can see that tenfold these days, because now we’ve really got a crisis, both in mental health and also the environment,” Cadwell says.
The evidence suggests that investing in youth circus programs now will save state and federal governments billions in mental health care in future decades, a fact articulated by Dr Richard McGrath, the University of South Australia’s lead researcher on the Cirkidz report, in 2019.
McGrath said at the time the South Australian report was released, “Our research shows that for every dollar invested for a child in a circus training program, seven dollars are potentially saved in their future mental health costs.
“Australia’s national spending on mental health is around $9.1 billion, making any savings [through government investment in youth circus programs] amid an ever-tightening public purse especially timely.”
Investing in circus arts will better prepare young people for dealing with challenges to their mental health now and in the future, when they have become adults, Cadwell explains. More importantly, it will also empower young people and allow them to flourish in years to come, regardless of whether they stay in the arts or use the skills and self-confidence instilled in them by circus arts to excel in other careers.
“What I’m really seeing, obviously, in the current political climate – and, also, we’re starting to see the research coming out in terms of phone use – is how teenagers are struggling in a mental health and a wellbeing space right now,” Caldwell tells ArtsHub.
She also speaks of her peers in the “amazing youth circus sector,” hoping that Spaghetti Circus’ new report will both honour and celebrate such companies – and further empower them to continue the transformative work they do for young people across the country.
“[The youth circus sector is] very connected,” Cadwell says. “We run a group called YCAN, which is the Youth Circus Australia Network, and we’ve been meeting for over 13 to 14 years, regularly.
“This kind of [report] data really helps everyone, Australia-wide tell their story and explain the benefits of why working with young people in work of this calibre is so important. How it changes their lives: especially in regional areas, where mental health is of such a big concern – disengagement, they’re not going to school, there are lots of challenges,” she continues.
“So yes, young people and kids Australia-wide will really benefit from this research that these other companies can also share and use,” she says.
Cadwell pauses for a moment, then adds, passionately. “These young people are really at the forefront – they can change the world – and we need their support, and to support them, right now.”
Read the full Spaghetti Circus/Patternmakers report here.
