For our recent history, please read CircEsteem's 2006 Year In Review and 2005 Year In Review.

In September 2001, Paul Miller founded CE and started teaching circus workshops at community centers across Chicago with donated tennis balls, a rolling globe, an old mat, and a vision. By November, Miller had partnered with Alternatives, a youth and family service agency, to host a six-week pilot program in Uptown.

The success of this program prompted Alternatives to provide seed funding for our first annual Spring Circus with 25 neighborhood kids in April 2002. That same year, we set up programs at Francis Parker School, Lycee Francais de Chicago, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, University of Chicago Lab School, and the Winnetka Community House.

In 2003, CE incorporated as a 501c (3) organization and developed programs at The People's Music School, Senn High School, and Hibbard Elementary School. We also partnered with Pathways to Development, serving foster children and wards of the state at the South Shore Cultural Center.

On April 12, 2003, Alternatives hosted CE's second annual Spring Circus, a unique show uniting 28 kids from Chicago Connections Heartland Alliance Refugee Family Program, Centro Romero and Uptown Christian Ministries with kids from Francis Parker School, Lycee Francais de Chicago, and Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. Seventy percent of the students participated free of charge thanks to our volunteer staff.

In August, performance fees along with generous donations helped send nine kids to the American Youth Circus Organization’s Festival 2003 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Here, our students performed twice for crowds of over 1,000 people and took part in workshops with kids in circuses from California, Vermont, Florida, and Mongolia to name a few.

In the winter of 2004, CE began the Homework & Circuswork program which provides a safe after-school environment for kids to receive assistance with their homework and practice their circus skills. And thanks to the Comer Science and Education Foundation, we also offer our program twice a week at the Paul Revere School.

On May 15, 2004, CE held its third annual Spring Circus at Alternatives that united kids from eighteen schools and nine different countries: Lake Forest to the South Side, Rogers Park to Logan Square, and Israel to the Sudan. We then spent the summer launching CircusTeens, a job training program funded by the Illinois Arts Council where promising teen performers work as apprentice teachers, and performing at events throughout the city, including Taste of Chicago, Navy Pier, and the grand opening of Millennium Park.

Follow this link to watch videos of our performances.

Founder

Paul Miller is the Founder and Chief Goof Officer of CircEsteem and a former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown. As part of the 1996-97 Ringling tour, Paul performed throughout the United States in hundreds of shows, where he drove the clown car, walked on stilts, and taught juggling in a pre-circus event known as the "Three Ring Adventure." He then spent the next few years performing and teaching for children of all ages and cultures in places like Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Las Vegas, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and even Japan. From The Greatest Show on Earth to the Greatest Kids in Chi-Town, Paul enjoys goofing off through the great art of circus.

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