MAD Residencies
Apart from the festival, MAD offers residencies every spring and fall where artists are given the space, time, and support to work on their creations—regardless of the stage of the project.
Find out moreEvery spring, MAD Festival brings the most exciting circus acts of today and tomorrow to Antwerp..
During this four-day circus festival, you can experience circus to the fullest in the Antwerp North district. The festival programs impressive performances from Belgium and abroad and invites the public to discover the circus world from the inside.
Parallel to MAD Festival, Ell Circo D’ell Fuego organizes MAD Convention, an international circus convention with introductory lessons, specialized workshops, technical training, and guest lectures. MAD Convention offers a unique way to experience circus, combining seeing and doing. In just a few years, MAD Convention has grown into an important meeting place for an international community of circus practitioners who have the opportunity to connect directly with professionals from the circus field who are programmed on the stages of MAD Festival.
MAD Convention offers a wide range of workshops with something for everyone. At the same time, we delve deeper with an annual specialist program that highlights a specific technique. The workshops are supervised by artists who are also scheduled to perform at MAD Festival later that day. They serve as role models for young convention participants, for whom the dream of one day performing on stage becomes just that little bit more concrete thanks to them.
For those who can’t wait that long, we provide an accessible Open Stage at the end of each convention day, where artists (in the making) can showcase their work in progress. The Open Stage serves as an intermediate level, between the convention and the professional world of festival stages. At the same time, we offer accessible introductions for the general festival audience, who also have the opportunity to attend the Open Stage in our convention hall.
This is how we create a unique form of connection: between the audience and the artist, between the artist and the circus community, and between the circus community and the audience.
With the MAD Generation Stage, we create a platform for the early work of young creators. Every year, we program five acts—by artists on the verge of breaking through—that are must-sees. Since the 2025 edition, we have also provided an extra stage for artists who were moored in the Circushaven for a residency. For example, Maelstrom by START-UP alumni Daniel and Seraphin from Company Alud premiered at MAD Festival.
Circus professionals who want to delve deeper into a sector-relevant theme are welcome to attend the MAD Circus Talks that we organize on the sidelines of the festival. In 2026, we want to focus on “The future of circus.”
Apart from the festival, MAD offers residencies every spring and fall where artists are given the space, time, and support to work on their creations—regardless of the stage of the project.
Find out moreWe are counting down to a new edition of MAD Festival, which will take place from Thursday, April 16 to Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Antwerp.
MAD Festival is a collaboration between the AG Cultural Institutions of the City of Antwerp (Arenberg) & Ell Circo D’ell Fuego.
