MR FANTASTIK YOUTH FOUNDATION MUSIC AND CIRCUS SCH
Africa Soul Train Circus: Canada Fundraising
Africa soul train reggae circus band, last two years did a west coast Canada Tour to raise money to build a center for national culture learning and talent development for the street kids in Cape Coast, Ghana. We toured over 15 islands playing and teaching circus acrobatics. Capoeira, African drumming and dancing day time and the evening with an explosive live music accompany by couple of Dj’s at the end of each set for the band. Africa Soul Train Circus is a collaboration between seasonal circus and musicians from Ghana now based in Vancouver, BC and a unique various talent across the world teamed up to help raise an awareness on drug abuse across Canada and also to raise money to help facilitate the ongoing Circus school building in Cape Coast, Ghana for street kids.
The circus Band show uses African bowl spinning and Chair on top of bottle balancing.
The show is more than a performance. There is a very serious mission to change lives behind it.
Jeanine, a Registered Nurse, has teamed up with Ghanaian musician and circus performer Mr. Fantastik as a volunteer to co-found African Soul Train Circus Project this year in order to raise money to build an international circus school to work with impoverished children in Ghana's Cape Coast. Plans for Africa Soul Train Circus School can be seen on its website:
https://mrfantastikmusic.com/mr-fantastik-youth-foundation
The organizers are also partnering with the NGO Hoops Care International, Sankofa mbofra fie, which was set up in 2008 in Ghana to "empower youth through sports, music, dance, and circus acrobatics".
Our tour is about raising awareness for drug abuse, finding sponsorships, finding interested people who want to help with this project and promoting it. We stopped in a lot of different communities on the tour last two years to teach a circus camp, give kids and family a chance to hang out with circus folks.
This project is an ongoing in its pilot phase, and this is our second tour. We are visiting more than 10 communities in January and February in the West Coast of Canada and then make our way up to Alberta from the end of March to the end of Spring.
Mr. Fantastik grew up on the streets of Ghana as an acrobat. There is a ton of acrobat talent in Africa, in Cape Coast and that area and that is where he's from. He came from busking on the streets as a five-year-old street performer, to performing on international stages all over the world. He's now living in Canada.
But what will the Ghanaian youngsters get out of it? Mr. Fantastik wants to exhibit his talent to inspire the youth out here in Canada to put their time in a good use such as sport, music, and education rather than drugs and also wants the street kids in Ghana to pick up the acrobatic skills in an organized way and learn the aerial performance style he uses himself, as there is nothing like that in the country at the moment.
There is no international circus school in Ghana. Eventually, we want to encourage the street kids, to give them the means and support to become international artists. Cavalia, the big horse and circus production, just brought a number of talents from Africa and created a big acrobatic troupe and it's now a huge part of their show.
It shows so much power and gives so much strength and hope. There is so much dance there and musical traditions in Ghana that draw on acrobatics, too.
Land in Ghana has already been donated to the project.
The project it will only take $50,000 to get the entire project up and running, teaching 30 to 50 students.
Mr. Fantastik and his collaborators plan to fly out to Cape Coast at the end of the tour to get things underway. Then the team will establish local contacts to sponsors and other stakeholders.
We have already started laying the foundation stones for the school. We will be there for six weeks in our first go to get it off the ground. We are already recording as we go, but we'd like to pull it all together and make a solid documentary for our future presentation.
This is a grassroots project of international proportions. We supported our project with our own personal finances and booking the tour last two years. This year we are lucky to be supported and powered by BC Art Council.
I wish we could raise the whole $50,000 this way, but we are going to have to talk to sponsors and people who are interested in the project to see what they can commit and just keep talking about it. And I will be applying for grants and funding as time goes on.
You will find more information on the link:www.mrfantstikmusic.com
Africa Soul Train Circus School (ASTCS) : Circus Center Fundraising
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA87CmfSqy0&t=178s
Africa Soul Train Circus: Westcoast Fundraising Tour
