Staff at Brussels circus school go on strike over working conditions

The permanent staff at Up Circus and Performing Arts school in Molenbeek are striking over what they have claimed is the "toxic management style" of the company’s directors.

Staff said working conditions had led to mass burnout and a wave of resignations, RTBF reports, to the point of jeopardising the Up contemporary circus festival scheduled to start on 19 March.

“The problems have been known for a long time, both by the governing body and by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which is our main source of funding,” said Corentin Parent, who has worked as Up’s webmaster for eight years.

“The new personnel director started here at the end of December and is already throwing in the towel after barely a month and a half. Additionally, the chairman of the governing body has also resigned, as has the external consultant appointed to guide our organisation. This shows how difficult cooperation is here.”

In response to the employees’ strike, the administrative body of the non-profit organisation announced on Tuesday that the company's directors, Catherine Magis and Benoît Litt, were temporarily stepping aside and handing over operations to a pair of crisis managers.

Only eight staff members remain at the organisation, with 15 resignations in 2025 alone.

Parent said that he had seen many colleagues come and go and that at least 20 complaints have been collected about working conditions.

In March 2025, in a report broadcast on RTBF, several former employees testified to acts of harassment that had forced them to leave the organisation.

“Following these revelations, the administrative body was opened up to outsiders, and a specialist organisation was brought in to conduct an audit on staff dissatisfaction and to coach the management, all with a view to improving the atmosphere between us and the directors, who have run Up Circus since its inception,” Parent said.

Despite the promised reforms, Parent and other remaining staff said that not enough had changed. Even the hiring of a third director was unsuccessful.

“This operations director threw in the towel after six weeks, as did the HR consultant and new chair of the administrative body,” Parent said.

“All three mentioned the impossibility of carrying out their mission in this context. Every day, we have to walk on eggshells.”

Striking staff said the temporary stepping down of the two directors - for a period of two weeks - and the bringing in of two crisis managers are insufficient.

Employees have been in contact with a mediator since last week and are demanding that management be sidelined for the duration of the restructuring, with written commitments.

Until those demands are met, employees say they will continue to strike.

“Every day, every hour that our demands are not met, the organisation of the festival is increasingly jeopardised, and there is still a lot of work to be done to get it organised,” said Parent.