Research Project and Online Resource Hub for UK Circus Sector

The UK circus community faces significant challenges in accessing reliable, up-to-date information, often relying on fragmented sources and word-of-mouth. This lack of centralisation hinders professional growth and access to crucial resources. Circus Change Up (CCU), a collaborative initiative, seeks to address this issue by creating a comprehensive resource hub for the UK circus sector. This platform would provide vital information on career development, health and wellbeing, and funding opportunities. As part of CCU’s larger sector development plan, a sitemap is required for submission to Arts Council England to support this initiative.

My responsibilities included attending meetings as a tech consultant, advising on UX best practices and technical feasibility. I led a UX research project that fit within the funding and time constraints, considering the limited availability of volunteers from leading UK circus companies. I synthesised the research data into a recommended sitemap, which was used as part of a grant application to the Arts Council of England.

Using Miro, I worked with a team of industry experts to brainstorm each user group. We identified why they would visit the website, the tasks they needed to complete, the functionality and content they required, and any potential pain points.

I developed a survey, which was distributed to professionals in the circus sector, and I synthesised the data using affinity mapping. From this data, I wrote user stories that combined the users' tasks with the necessary content and functionality requirements.

Once all the content and functionality needs were gathered, I collaborated with domain experts to use an impact-effort matrix to prioritise and assess their feasibility. We focused on features with high value and low to medium effort. From this process, I drafted an information architecture (IA) for the resource centre.

The team finalised the IA, and it was submitted as part of a sector development grant application to Arts Council England. Unfortunately, the funding application was declined for the larger development project. However, I collaborated with Circus Change Up and the National Centre for Circus Arts (NCCA) to create a basic resource centre using NCCA's existing WordPress template.

Although the grant was not successful, the project’s research and design processes led to the creation of a simplified resource centre, ensuring a starting point for addressing the circus sector’s knowledge gaps. This platform provides valuable information and resources using available tools, and there is potential for future development with further funding.