Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya (APCC)

What Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya (APCC) does

APCC (Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya) is a private, independent, non-profit professional association founded in 2004 and headquartered at the Parc del Fòrum de Barcelona in Sant Adrià del Besòs, Spain. It represents 370 associated professionals across the full spectrum of the Catalan circus sector, including artists, managers, directors, dramaturgs, set designers, choreographers, theorists, and educators. The association's mission is to unite and structure the sector and to promote circus arts in the cultural, social, and economic life of Catalonia.

Its core product surface is a trilingual (Catalan, Spanish, English) website platform (apcc.cat), operated with external technology vendor Can Antaviana, which hosts a searchable directory of 370+ circus professionals, a shows catalog filterable by discipline, audience and venue, a centralized event calendar, a circus schools catalog, a news section, and a 'Circus in Catalonia' portal covering schools, creation and exhibition spaces, festivals, and social circus initiatives. Beyond the website, APCC delivers membership services including professional advice, training, discounts, promotion of member proposals, and a biweekly newsletter on calls and grants, alongside an anti-violence mailbox. The organization has 13 staff and is led by Gerència Cristina Tascón, in place since November 2019.

Its business model is membership-based subscription, supplemented by public institutional funding. Revenue is not publicly disclosed; the association's principal funders are the Generalitat de Catalunya Departament de Cultura, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Diputació de Barcelona, INAEM, and the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Plan / Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia. APCC also maintains strategic partnerships with these public bodies, the humanitarian NGO Pallassos Sense Fronteres, and other sector organizations, and it acts as the recognized interlocutor between the Catalan circus community and public cultural policy.

Name

Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya (APCC)

Legal name

Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya

Website

https://apcc.cat

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

APCC is a non-profit professional association founded in 2004 that represents 370 circus artists, companies, managers, and educators in Catalonia through a trilingual website platform offering a professionals directory, shows catalog, event calendar, and membership services, funded primarily by Spanish and EU public institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Circus Arts Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920), Other Similar Organizations (except Business, Professional, Labor, and Political Organizations) (81399)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Circus arts association
• Professional member services
• Performing arts directory
• Circus event calendar
• Cultural sector networking

Headquarters

HQ city

Sant Adrià del Besòs

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: The APCC operates as a membership-based organization offering services to circus professionals including advice, training, discounts, and promotion of member proposals. The specific membership fee structure is not publicly disclosed.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

APCC is a membership-based professional association that unites and represents the Catalan circus sector through an online directory of 370+ circus professionals, a searchable catalog of circus shows, a regional event calendar, and member services including advice, training, discounts, and biweekly dissemination of calls and grants. The association functions as the central representative body structuring circus arts in Catalonia across artistic, managerial, administrative, directing, dramaturgy, set design, choreography, theory, and teaching branches.

Product overview

APCC operates as a unified cultural platform offering interconnected services for the Catalan circus sector: a directory of over 370 circus professionals, an extensive shows catalog with advanced search capabilities, a calendar of circus events across Catalonia, membership benefits including advice and funding information, and a comprehensive portal about circus in Catalonia covering spaces, festivals, and social circus. The association functions as both a professional network and a cultural promotion organization rather than a software product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Professionals Directory

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Generalitat de Catalunya (Departament de Cultura)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Catalan Government's Department of Culture is a key supporter of circus arts in Catalonia. The APCC represents the circus sector in discussions with the regional government and receives institutional support for its activities.
• Ajuntament de BarcelonacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Barcelona City Council is a key institutional partner supporting circus arts in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
• Diputació de BarcelonamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Provincial Council of Barcelona provides institutional support and funding for cultural initiatives including circus arts.
• INAEM (Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpain's National Institute of Performing Arts and Music provides support for performing arts including circus.
• Pallassos Sense FronteresminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHumanitarian NGO working with circus professionals. Panettone Brothers, an APCC member company, is a habitual collaborator of this NGO.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Associazione Italiana Circhi: Italian national circus industry association; comparable role as a sectoral representative body, though traditionally focused on the tented/traveling circus heritage rather than contemporary circus arts.
• Circus Federation of Australia / Circus Australia: Australian national circus sector body providing directory, advocacy, and development functions analogous to APCC's offering for the Catalan market.
• Circus Arts Foundation (UK) / National Centre for Circus Arts: UK-based circus training and sectoral support organization with overlapping functions in professional training, member directories, and sector advocacy; comparable mission but serves the British market.
• Fédération Française des Écoles de Cirque (FFEC): French federation of circus schools; operates as a national membership association with comparable functions (directory of schools, professional standards, sector representation) but focused on the French territory rather than Catalonia.

Direct peers

• Confederació d'Associacions de Professionals de les Arts Escèniques de Catalunya (COETC sectorial): Catalan confederation of performing arts professional associations; APCC is likely a member-association within this broader performing-arts umbrella, making COETC a structurally analogous sectoral body at a wider scope.
• La Central del Circ: Catalan public facility for circus creation, training, and dissemination based at the Fòrum area; closely comparable geographically and functionally as a hub for the Catalan circus ecosystem APCC represents.

Broad incumbents

• European Association of Circuses (EAC): European trade association for the traditional circus industry; comparable sectoral representation role but focused on touring circus operations rather than contemporary/arts-focused professionals served by APCC.
• FEDEC — European Federation of Professional Circus Schools: Pan-European federation representing professional circus schools and training institutions; comparable to APCC as a sectoral umbrella body for circus professionals across multiple countries, though focused on education rather than the full value chain.

Emerging players

• CircusNext: European platform for emerging contemporary circus artists, including a Laureate program; APCC members (e.g., Zed Zanzu) participate in CircusNext, making it a thematic peer operating in the same talent pipeline.

Others

• Pallassos Sense Fronteres (Clowns Without Borders): Humanitarian NGO deploying circus artists internationally; overlaps with APCC members (e.g., Panettone Brothers) as part of the broader Catalan circus community, with shared talent pool rather than direct competition.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/associacioprofessionalscirccatalunya

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Associació de Professionals de Circ de Catalunya (APCC)