Wizards of the Wire

Wizards of the Wire is a 'wire-walking for well-being' community engagement program and creative recovery initiative. It forms the community engagement component of a large-scale tightwire event The Xrossing which celebrates the unbelievable story of Lismore-born, Aboriginal circus performer Con Colleano, who became the world's greatest tightwire artist.

The Xrossing premieres in NAIDOC week, July 8 - 9 in the Lismore Quad. Two professional wire walkers and two Indigenous young people traverse a 60-metre long tightwire suspended six metres above the Lismore Quad from 2 sets of shipping containers stacked on each other.

The WOTW workshops invite young people to experience the therapeutic benefits of 'funambulism' (wire walking with a balance pole) and to be part of the cultural activation of reclaiming Con as a Lismore-born, Gamilaroi man, the original Wizard of the Wire.

The first workshop is on June 16 for the Widjabul Wiyabul Indigenous leadership team. From this, we hope to select one or two Indigenous participants for further training to eventually perform an assisted walk with professionals for The Crossing.

The Rivers secondary College 7 - 10 drama and PE students will join us for 3 days on 26 - 28 June. From these days we hope to recruit some students to participate as 'community walkers' on the lower tightwires in The Xrossing.

Wizard of the Wire Community workshops, July 1 - 4, are offered to the public and interested community members who participated in earlier Soft Circus workshops. We aim to recruit additional 'community walkers' from this cohort. To join the community workshops, book your place here.

For more information on Con Colleano check out this video.

For some more information on Funambulism check out this video.

This Project has been generously supported by SeedArts continued philanthropic support. It has also been supported by CreateNSW and the office for regional youth.