TENT REVIVAL
Court approves deal to save Big Apple Circus
THE SHOW will go on.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus may be shuttering, but the Big Apple Circus won’t be folding up its tent quite yet — just selling it.
A judge on Tuesday approved a deal saving the circus by selling its tents, equipment and intellectual property to Big Top Works, an affiliate of a Florida-based investment firm for $1.3 million.
Big Apple filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November with debts totaling more than $8 million.
The nonprofit, which can now celebrate its 40th anniversary season, canceled its 2016-17 season last year as money problems mounted.
The group was unable to maintain its monetary high wire act when ticket sales fell off following the financial crisis of 2008.
The one-ring circus said its debts amounted to $8.3 million, against assets of $3.8 million, according to court documents.
Compass Partners LLC was the highest bidder at a court-ordered auction held Feb. 7 at the Manhattan offices of Debevoise & Plimpton, which provided pro bono legal service to the circus throughout its bankruptcy case.
Big Top Works, under the auspices of Compass, offered a “compelling case to revive the circus performances consistent with the original Big Apple Circus mission and values: serving family audiences in N.Y.C. and on tour, sensitive to accessibility and to differently abled audiences,” Big Apple said in a statement posted on its website.
The court-ordered auction stipulated that the winner maintain the Big Apple’s special performances for low income children and those with special needs as well as other programs geared toward helping the community.
The Big Apple Circus was founded by Paul Binder and Michael Christensen “to establish a performing circus and school for the instruction and artistic development of circus arts,” according to the bankruptcy filing.
The show, which started in 1977, failed last year to reach its goal in a “Save the Circus” fundraising campaign as ticket sales plunged.
At its height, the traveling show staged more than 300 annual performances in eight major cities.
It was most well known for making Damrosch Park, adjacent to Lincoln Center, its home for four months out of the year.
The company’s large tent was a familiar sight on the Upper West Side during the holiday season.
Neil Kahanovitz, a partner at Big Top Works who is a former circus performer, in a statement called the Big Apple Circus “a cultural gem” and said, “We couldn’t let this beloved American pastime just disappear.”