SANCA is changing its gym. SANCA has made the decision to reduce our facility footprint to ensure our long-term sustainability and reduce operating overhead both during the pandemic and as we continue the reopening process and reinvent our business after the pandemic. While we will remain in the same location, we are moving out of the North Annex (the space with the Trampolines, tightwires, and more). The equipment in the North Annex will be relocated to the Main Gym and South Annex. SANCA will continue to operate its full slate of programming without interruption (see layout map below).
We will continue to strictly follow all King County guidelines for safe operations during the COVID pandemic. This includes staying well under the maximum number of students permitted in each space. Up to now, we have not come close to matching the maximum occupancy permitted in King County’s current reopen stage. Those guidelines allow us 18 students per bay, but we usually have five students to a bay on average but sometimes as many as ten students.
This move is considered, among staff and Board at SANCA, as a positive. It’s a much-needed reduction of expenses so that we can operate more efficiently in service to our students. During COVID, the reduction in rent cost is really important. The concern that many have had as we have considered this change over the past few months is: will this limit SANCA’s ability to grow once COVID is behind us?
The answer is that SANCA will be able to freely grow even beyond its busiest years prior to the pandemic. If anything, SANCA’s large space has been a luxury. It served its purpose of helping us find different levels of growth. However, it is simply more sustainable and smarter for SANCA to operate a little leaner. All of our budgets and plans for our new layout indicate that SANCA will grow bigger than ever before once we are out of the pandemic. We believe this is the best move to respect the resources SANCA has thanks to our students and many generous donors.
While the move means less physical space, it does not mean less circus. All disciplines of circus will remain at SANCA; we won’t lose any programming. The two best trampolines will move into the Main Gym. The tightwires will move into the South Annex (see map below). The third trampoline will move into the Flying Trapeze tent. Over the next year, we are raising funds to replace the exterior skin of the tent with a new insulated skin that will keep the space warmer and more comfortable in the winter months. That will allow the tent to host aerial, trampoline, and other circus classes when Flying Trapeze is not active. Click here to make a donation to support the Flying Trapeze tent upgrade.
Things will look different, but it will be the same SANCA. After all, the real magic at SANCA is about the people who make circus so joyful and addicting: our dedicated coaches, the phenomenal students, and our hardworking staff.
If you’d like to volunteer to help SANCA move equipment out of the North Annex, we need help on these dates and times:
