As I sit here sipping my coffee, watching the sun come up, listening to what seems like the beginning of the endless rain of the Seattle winter, I look back over this past year at SANCA and I’m endlessly grateful.

Grateful for our staff — who show up each and every day to enrich the lives of our students and make every day a little more fun. With more than 1,000 students and families coming through SANCA’s doors every week, it’s a busy circus! It’s a joy to see all the activity in SANCA, from tots learning to tumble, to adults learning new ways to work with their bodies, to our staff and visiting professionals who continue to amaze and inspire all of us toward ever more challenging feats of circus.

• Youth Scholarships: I’m very pleased to share that SANCA has continued its commitment to make circus possible for any child through our need-based scholarship fund. This year we gave $221,645 in scholarships to 847 youth to take circus classes or participate in Social Circus and Every Body’s Circus.

Grateful for our partners — who help us bring circus to more kids in schools and community centers throughout Seattle. We’ve continued our work with wonderful partners like Broadview Emergency Shelter & Transitional Housing; Powerful Schools; Refugee Women’s Alliance; Rainier Boys & Girls Club; Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative; and the South Park, Delridge, and Garfield community centers.

• Circus works! Over the past year, SANCA partnered with the American Youth Circus Organization (AYCO) to participate in a Socio-Emotional Learning Study conducted by AYCO and the Weikart Center that unequivocally demonstrated that circus arts improve the socio-emotional health of youth. Compared with national data of youth development programs, social circus has proven to be among the top-ranking, exemplary programs.

Grateful for YOU, our supporters — who have faith in us and the work we do to bring circus to the world — which is exactly what we did this year! I’d like to share with you some of this year’s highlights and the impact you have made with your support – read or download SANCA’s 2017 Community Update.

I am grateful. Each and every day.

Kristina Wicke
Executive Director