The Great Big Climate Circus is a touring, youth-led creative programme that will work across 12 communities in Gloucestershire, bringing together young people, artists, environmental partners and local residents through circus, music, performance and hands-on activities. Rather than focusing on fear or blame, the project uses joy, creativity and shared experiences to make climate action feel hopeful, accessible and relevant to everyday life.

Thanks to National Lottery players, the project has been awarded £1,498,916 million over four years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, to develop a bold, youth-led programme using creativity and community events to inspire positive climate action.

The project will support young people — particularly those facing barriers to participation — to build confidence, develop leadership skills and shape climate action in their own communities.

'This first stage is about getting the foundations right,' said Ben Ward, World Jungle.
'We’re building the team, working closely with partners and young people, and taking the time to co-design something that’s ambitious, inclusive and rooted in place. The public will start to see activity later this year as the programme takes shape.'

Creative engagement and Climate Circus events will begin in summer 2026, in Stroud, Dursley and Gloucester. 

Over the lifetime of the project, The Great Big Climate Circus aims to engage around 6,000 people, with 720 young people directly involved in co-creating events and 120 young people supported to go on to further climate action. Learning from the project will also be shared nationally through a youth-led toolkit to support better practice in youth participation and climate engagement.

'Young people want to get involved with climate and nature issues but they are rarely given a genuine say or choice as to what that looks like.' said Anna Bonallack, Creative Sustainability.
'The Great Big Climate Circus is a huge opportunity for young people in Gloucestershire, giving them the time, support, expertise and resources to explore the issues in ways that work for them, to make real projects happen in their communities, and ultimately to influence decision makers both here and across the UK.’

The project is funded through the Climate Action Fund, a £100 million commitment over 10 years from The National Lottery Community Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change and involve more people in climate action. This forms part of the Fund’s 2030 strategy ‘It starts with community’.