Newsletter · September #2 When children become Big People
Once a year, a circus carnival comes to the streets of Zeitz.
On 6 June, a whole procession of elephants, circus artists, musicians, children, parents and local residents made its way through Zeitz.
In 2024, we created this project to give children and teenagers a chance to tell the city — and adults — what matters to them. Arina, the lead trainer of one of our groups, suggested the name “Große Leute” — “Big People”. Because children are big too: they have their own opinions, dreams, thoughts and worries.
Here, they are the authors, and what they create is shown right in the city, on streets that become a stage for one day.
Children train circus, create performances, costumes and huge figures — and then bring them out into the city
Every carnival looks different because each year we come up with a new theme together with the children. Last year, we talked about flight and dreams. This year, we teamed up with Reallabor ZEKIWA — and talked about elephants (because why not?).
Elephants Edition
We imagined all kinds of elephants — long ones, tiny ones, pink ones and striped ones — and invented superpowers for them. We talked about the elephant in the china shop, the elephant in the room, and why sometimes we ourselves “make an elephant out of a fly”.
It is almost impossible to remain just a spectator.
You can make a costume, join the parade and become part of the carnival.
Finalist for the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2026
Große Leute is a finalist in the category Arts, Culture and Heritage as Drivers of Change. For us, this is an incredibly important recognition of the idea we started with: giving children the chance to shape the space around them themselves.
We will find out the results on 15 October in Brussels — and will, of course, tell you straight away.
Hauptbahnhof
Leipzig
Osthalle
CASES
Contemporary circus without words — about home, moving, and everything we carry with us.
5 November
Premiere of the film “Denk nicht an den Elefanten”
Nikolaikirche Zeitz.
Große Leute happens because people support it
Every carnival is months of work with children — rehearsals, costumes, huge figures. If you want the next one to happen, you can support Upsala-Circus.
Support Upsala-CircusGroße Leute is made possible by Reallabor ZEKIWA, Fonds Darstellende Künste and the federal programme “Kultur macht stark. Bündnisse für Bildung”.
Upsala-Circus gGmbH · Steinsgraben 39, 06712 Zeitz
upsalacircus.de · hello@upsalacircus.com · Instagram