The circus has come to town, but it’s not your typical act of high-flying acrobats and whimsical clowns—its main act is giving back to the community. Midnight Circus in the Parks (MCP) is back for its seventh summer, reaching 11 neighborhoods and spreading colorful entertainment while raising more than $450,000 to rebuild the Chicago Park System through ticket sales and concessions.

Co-op member and longtime circus performer Jeff Jenkins launched MCP in 2007 after his troupe toured Europe for about a decade. He said he felt Chicago needed the same communal bonding the circus brought to France, Italy and several other cities. Last month the group performed on the South Side at Grand Crossing Park for the first time, and their traveling performances run through the end of October.

Englewood’s performance was made possible through a Co-op connection Jenkins made with fellow Co-op member Aysha Butler, who is the president of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood.

Also new this year are the NATO legacy funds Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mike Kelly, general superintendent and CEO of the Chicago Park District, are using to back the project. Jenkins said he’s thrilled for the relationship to continue because the support allows him to bring the circus to communities that would not otherwise be able to enjoy it.

Jenkins chatted with CIW to share just how the circus can save a community.

Performers range from age 5 to 45.

We were spending time over in France and Italy and we noticed that in the small parks and piazzas there were all these wonderful theatrical circuses that communities were taking in. And we wanted to bring something like that to the United States with the work that we were doing. And we also wanted to couple that with social causes that we thought were important, such as access to safe, well-funded, well-programmed schools and parks. Chicago is a unique city in that there are parks in every neighborhood, and we thought it would be great if we could do a very artistic, world-class circus in the parks serving the hearts of these communities, and also use that as a way to really bring them together – potentially raise funds and expose communities to a really high-level circus all at the same time.

The circus is a unique art form. In that circus ring there’s just about something for everyone, whether it’s theater or dance or acrobatics or comedy or drama. Anything goes in a circus ring, so I think it appeals to everybody. There’s a bit of a romantic notion about the circus, particularly about the circus in a tent. You don’t see very many of them anymore. Certainly you don’t see a somewhat intimate, colorful, magical tent in the heart of a city.

Jenkins says the community response has been incredible.

We always say that we’re bringing the circus to the people. It’s really important to us to make it incredibly accessible. Things are happening in Chicago that are fantastic, but a lot of times they aren’t accessible. Whether it’s the price point, whether it’s the logistics…A lot of families who live on the West or the South Side, it’s simply not an option to come downtown to see a show at the Goodman or Broadway in Chicago.

Several parks already have brand-new playgrounds up and running. Chase Park is one, Welles Park is one…How it works is if the park has an advisory council, we partner with them and they’re kind of the nonprofit volunteer. We help them raise the funds, and in turn, the park district will match in other ways. We’ve already seen the fruits of our labor in several parks. Some parks need funding for programming or to keep existing programming going. The great thing about this program is the money you are paying to see the show goes right to your local park, and performers and equipment are paid through a per-show fee.

It’s been overwhelming. The community has been so grateful, supportive and so proactive in getting us there and helping us get what we need. You know, a park like Ogden Park—which is a big, big park on the South Side—they really don’t get programming like Circus in the Parks. It’s as if we dropped out of outer space a little bit. Some people were like, “What is this?” An older woman drove up in her motorized scooter and asked, “What is going on?” And I said, “Well, we’re bringing the circus to Englewood.” And she goes, “Hallelujah! We’ve never had a circus in Englewood!”

Englewood is often in the news for all the wrong reasons, but there are great things happening in Englewood everyday. The press doesn’t often report that, unfortunately. But this was really a remarkable thing and we had about 700 people in that park for the circus. And everybody got along.

I met the folks at R.A.G.E after receiving the Co-op handbook, and I reached out to Aysha Butler once we locked in our Englewood dates. Ogden Park doesn’t really have a park advisory council, so we really needed those community partners to serve as volunteers to sell the concessions, of which they kept all the profit… and to engage the aldermen and the community leaders and legislators. So we connected with a few organizations down there, but our real connection was R.A.G.E. And they were remarkable—really supportive.

I’m grateful we get to be a part of Chicago Ideas Week. It’s an impressive bunch, and that we’re included is quite a notch in our belt. It’s turned out to already bear fruit in our relationship with R.A.G.E, a relationship we would have not found if it weren’t for the Co-op.

The circus holds teamwork in high regard.

First and foremost, we look for people who work great in an ensemble environment. Our shows have a very important family feel. Of course, they can be wildly-talented individually and have their own moment in the show, but we always look for people who play well with others.

We’ve been around for a while, so a lot of people seek us out and it’s a unique opportunity to perform in a circus tent in the middle of a really cool urban environment. Our cast ranges in age from the youngest being my 5-year-old daughter to the oldest being 45. The only animal the show involves is Junebug, my dog.

Every neighborhood in Chicago – regardless of the social makeup, ethnic makeup or economic breakdown – everybody really wants the same thing. People want a good, safe environment. They would like a productive, well-programmed park where they get to know their neighbors and raise their kids in a healthy environment.

That’s been a big takeaway for me as well as a lot of our cast, who maybe haven’t been exposed to the many different neighborhoods. It really reinforced my belief that entertainment needs to be accessible to all people.