Femmes Du Feu

Circus arts check all the rings for Holly Benedetti.

For the aerial artist and founder of the Welland-based non-profit Femmes du Feu Creations, circus has pushed her body and creativity, and built community since she discovered it in 2001.

“I really like the physical challenge of circus. I like to work hard in my body and really challenge my body,” Benedetti says.

When Benedetti and her family moved from Toronto to Welland in 2019, they brought a vision of an arts hub where people could connect and youth programming rooted in circus.

Today, Femmes du Feu offers after-school classes and camps for youth aged five to 17, introducing participants to the five circus disciplines: aerial arts, juggling, acrobatics, games and clowning, and balance activities such as stilting.

Programs, run out of a former bank building downtown, focus on building physical literacy, creative self-expression, leadership skills and — most importantly — a sense of belonging.

“That’s really important because there’s space for everybody and every body,” Benedetti says.

Support from Niagara Community Foundation has checked all the boxes in helping Femmes du Feu grow its programs.

A Summer Camp Grant worth $1,600 will allow the organization to expand to four weeks of camps this year while removing financial barriers for participants. A $9,100 Community Grant is also supporting a youth troupe that will perform at festivals and community events across the region.

This follows a Mini Grant and another Summer Camp Grant from NCF in 2024 to support Femmes du Feu’s mission.

“We want to have our neighbours with us and have a space that’s hyper-local and build community right where we are. NCF has been a big part of that,” Benedetti says. “We really appreciate that trust as a new organization and that support of our growth to become part of the larger community.”

The goal goes far beyond the spectacle of circus, however.

“Circus is very magical, very whimsical and it sometimes can feel very surreal and take us out of our regular life,” Benedetti says. “It brings us into this other realm of magic and dreams and hopefulness.”