Building confidence
Circus arts program for at-risk youth in Las Vegas promotes activity, cooperation
Vegas Voices is a weekly series featuring notable Las Vegans.
ATTHEW Frazier, who moved to Las Vegas in 2000, is a nonpracticing attorney and trustee of private family foundations. In 2014 he founded the Cirkish Foundation, with the mission “to promote mental, physical, emotional,
Mpsychological and social development with at-risk youth” by training them in the circus arts.
The late John C. Kish, who owned the Skyline Casino in Henderson for more than 30 years, and his partner, Frank Plebo, were Frazier’s mentors. “He credited Henderson with giving him a great life,” Frazier said of Kish. “He always wanted to give back.” Kish established the
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John C. Kish Foundation, of which Frazier is a trustee, to further the causes of performing arts and animal welfare in Southern Nevada. Frazier, 51, had long wanted to create his own nonprofit; the result is the Social Cirkish Foundation.
“Growing up in Utah, my parents always taught me to give back to the community,” Frazier said. “I was a volunteer missionary in England for a few years and have always been involved in community service.” Kish and Plebo “were just great examples for me; I learned a lot from them. It was sort of a coincidence, the play on the word ‘circus,’ that I could put ‘Cirkish.’ It’s separate from the Kish Foundation, but sort of a tribute.”
More information on the foundation is available at socialcirkish.org.
Review-journal: Why did you choose to use circus acts to reach underserved kids?
Frazier: Cirque du Soleil had a social circus as well. I studied it a bit, and it made sense that it brought together all these different values that children can learn, as well as the physical aspect. They learn a lot of social skills, and on top of that they’re doing a lot of amazing core activity that they don’t even know they’re doing. It wasn’t just football or basketball; it was jumping, balancing, all these different aspects of physical education.
Howdidthesocial Cirkish Foundation get off the ground?
It started very small; we had a pilot program at two elementaries in Henderson. We run about seven now. We probably have about 130 per year during the school year. We go from (age) 10 to 17. We also work at The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada. The program there is dropin, for whoever lives around that area who wants to drop in after school. We also work with (Municipal Court Chief ) Judge Cedric Kerns with his youth offender program. We also work with special-needs kids in some of the schools. We try to grow maybe one new program a year, which gives us another 25 to 30 kids.
How are participants fortheschoolprograms chosen?
We work with high school, junior high and elementary principals and counselors. We started at (C.T.) Sewell Elementary School in Henderson. The principal hand-picked the kids they thought would benefit. We also have an online Newest Las Vegas discovery? application process.
How many trainers do you have and where do they come from?
We have up to seven trainers; we call them coaches. We don’t use them all the time. We try to have a ratio of six kids to one coach. They’re professional Place you always take visitors? circus-arts performers. I think a lot of our coaches have at one time performed with Cirque de Soleil, but they’re not Cirque performers; they’re on their own. It’s a community of people who perform all over the world. Two coaches are a husband and Favorite vacation destination? wife who are professional trapeze artists.
What circus arts are involved in the program?
Trapeze, juggling, high wire — our high wire’s 2 feet high — Chinese yoyo — it looks like a little spinning top; it’s done between string. Jump
rope, tumbling, rings, balancing on balls, how to clown, hoops. Pretty much everything you would see in a Cirque show.
Where do the kids practice and perform?
We’re site-based for our regular programs; during the school year, we have the program going on everywhere. When school’s out, we take an all-star troupe for the summer. That’s our big showcase.
What’s the ultimate goal for the kids?
We don’t want to create circus performers. It’s more of a social development program, just getting in shape and having fun while you’re doing it. Some of the kids we get are really, really shy, so the principal puts them in our program. After the 10-week program they have their own show and they become like rock stars. It translates to them being able to give book reports in front of their class and having the confidence to do that. We just want them to go to a job interview and feel very self-confident. A lot of kids don’t like gym anymore, but this kind of stuff makes it fun. If they become performers on the Strip, that’s just a bonus.
Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinell @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474. Follow @Hkrinella on Twitter.