We had the good fortune of connecting with Doug Stewart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Doug, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
My end goal is for my company, Cirque Us, to be the next household name for circus entertainment with the likes of Cirque Du Soleil and Ringling Brothers. I believe our shows are relatable and topical in a way that every audience member will be able to connect with our artists. By the end of my career, I hope my company has multiple shows performing around the world at the same time.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
After touring with the internationally acclaimed youth performance troupe Circus Smirkus, eight friends held onto a dream to create their own powerful circus shows that would connect audiences to each other, the
stage, and the world. With support from family, friends, coaches, mentors, and the greater circus community, Doug Stewart founded Cirque Us in 2016. Based in New England, the Cirque Us team now delivers two national tours a year, has produced and toured four full length circus shows, performed at the SmithsonianFolklife Festival in Washington D.C, curated nine Cabaret shows and 8 weeks of circus camps per year.

Cirque Us faced many challenges at the beginning of our career. When we started, we were a group of 8 twenty year olds that had no idea where to get money or how to fundraise. When sitting around dreaming up cheap ideas for a show, someone threw out, “What about Trash” and from there our first show, “One Man’s Trash: A Repurposed Circus” was born. We spent weeks raiding garage sales and free piles until we had gathered enough trash to build and entire set and junkyard circus. The show featured acts like aerial tire swing, balancing on wooden boards and juggling to sort the recycling. The first show was built from the ground up, with little resources to support us. Since then, every year we were able to grow a little bit. As we slowly started expanding our tours and seeing bigger audiences, we were able to add costumes designers and music composers. Each year we got bigger and bigger, and now we have presenters and producers booking our shows. We are able to collaborate with various artists to build better and more elaborate shows.

The thing I am the most proud of with Cirque Us, is that even though we have grown as a business, the heart and mission of our company are still the same from our humble beginnings. We believe that circus magic can change the world. There is something indescribable about the feeling of watching two acrobats hold each other up 20ft in the air, or the moment when the wire walker lands back on the wire, or the final juggling club is caught. Circus shows people that the impossible is possible and the value in teamwork. We are lucky that we get to share that magic with so many people year after year.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love Wynwood! Every time I visit Miami I always go there! The food is great, bars are great and the artwork is always changing!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to Shoutout Circus Smirkus. I grew up attending Circus Smirkus where I developed my deep love for the circus arts and the traveling circus lifestyle. Through that life changing experience, I saw how the circus can spread joy and magic to so many people and I wanted to dedicate my life to sharing that with others.

Website: https://thecirqueus.com

Instagram: @thecirqueus

Twitter: @thecirqueus

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cirqueus/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA93kjs8KzxOPnM5qjuptZg

Image Credits
Justin Durham, Justin Miel

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.