OUTREACH PROGRAMMING

ECHO THEATER COMPANY is committed to increasing access to performing arts, circus, and creative movement by partnering with communities who face systemic barriers to participation to create relevant programming and build meaningful relationships.

Echo offers workshops, residencies and after-school programs for K - 12 students throughout the greater Portland area. This year, we partnered with Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), Latino Network, and Impact NW to offer free afterschool programming at 8 neighborhood schools. We also offer single-day workshops and more in depth residencies within the school day, working closely with educators to embody curricular concepts such as The Physics of Gravity, Rhythm and Rhyme, and Forms of Energy (MELTS) through circus theater. Each residency culminates in a collaborative performance, celebrating our new skills and our new knowledge.

Bring Circus Theater to your school! Play, learn, and grow together in these versatile workshops and residencies— great for students of all ages and abilities. Focuses include partner and group acrobatics, juggling, object manipulation, creative movement, and collaborative physical theater. Students build confidence, strength, and grace in a creative and supportive environment.  We have decades of experience using collaborative circus theater to illuminate your curriculum. Contact Josie@echotheaterpdx.org for more information.

IN SCHOOL WORKSHOPS & RESIDENCIES

Looking for interactive entertainment for your block party, festival, or event? Bring the joy of circus to your community! Our interactive Circus pop-ups include options for all ages including juggling equipment, mats, stilts, instructor-led obstacle courses, walk-around performers and shows. Our instructors and teen pre-professional performance company, the Zig Zags, will dazzle your community with atmospheric antics such as stilt-walking, juggling, acrobatics or aerialist dance. Talk to us about your upcoming event, and we will create an original experience tailored to your unique wishes!  Great for school auctions, carnivals, and festive family events! 

Echo is pleased to work with a variety of organizations to offer classes and experiences to students of all ages, abilities and ways of being. We currently offer a weekly circus class at the Parry Center, a psychiatric residential youth hospital, twice-a-week drop-in classes for homeless and transitional youth at p:ear; continuing education classes through Portland Community College, and weekly creative movement, aerial dance and partner acrobatics classes for Disabled adults at Echo Theater to name a few. By adapting our programming and curriculum to the needs of diverse individuals and communities, we improve the experience of all.

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

ECHO AT YOUR EVENT

TEAM-BUILDING WORKSHOPS

Bring your team or group to Echo! ETC workshops are great for corporations, non-profits, clubs, and any group that wants to build trust within their community. Using movement exercises, partner and group acrobatics, creative problem-solving, and aerial challenges, your team will grow together. Workshops are inclusive, playful, and accessible for all ages and all body types. We will provide opportunities to challenge assumptions, explore supported risks, collaborate, and laugh together.

CONNECT WITH ECHO

Person in a sparkly circus outfit with four juggling clubs

Supported by a three-year grant from Murdock Trust, Josie Mae was hired as Echo’s first Outreach Manager in October 2023. A veteran performer and educator from Clowns Without Borders who’s worked with Clowns Without Borders, the International Jugglers Association and Circo de los Niños (MX), Josie is expanding Echo’s tent to include more outreach programming.

Connect with her to learn more about Echo’s outreach programming.

Echo appreciates generous support from regional foundations to deliver its outreach programming.

Pricing for outreach programming varies. Contact us for more information: 
josie@echotheaterpdx.org

TESTIMONIALS
  • "One word? Amazing! My students learned new vocabulary, how to work together safely, and how to explore in new ways. This workshop was an incredible experience."

    — Amy Sidwell, Woodburn Arts & Communications Academy