Case Study: Cirque du Soleil's Global Citizenship

Cirque du Soleil is a world-renowned entertainment company, being the largest theatrical producer in the world, it is known for its high quality performances, which "evoke the imagination, invoke the senses and provoke the emotions of people around the world". It was funded in 1984 in Quebec, Canada. More than 50 nationalities are represented within the company, and 25 different languages are spoken among the employees. Cirque du Soleil also applies creative approaches to drive social change in communities worldwide. Its citizenship principles are "founded on the conviction that the arts, business and social initiatives can, together, contribute to making a better world" (Cirque du Soleil).

Cirque du Soleil’s global citizenship sense can be seen not only inside the company, in the workplace, but also outside, in the relationship with the partners and suppliers as well as in many environmental, social and cultural programs. In order to be a responsible global corporate citizen, the company has adopted 4 basic pillars:

Workplace. “Providing an inspiring, healthy and safe workplace for our employees”

Cirque du Soleil shows large respect and gratitude to its employees, by providing them with the opportunity to have a good work-life balance. Lucy Jones, a The Telegraph's journalist, had a chance to spend some days with the circus in 2012 and could discover a little this world behind the scenes:

"... At the hub is the canteen, where food has colour-coded labels to indicate how healthy it is. Totem travels with four chefs who cook with local ingredients and use local staff – very efficient – and on Sundays everyone brings their family and friends for brunch. 

Each artist has their own cubbyhole, pasted with photographs of their families and laden with traces of their personality. It’s a bit like a boarding school. Athletes from China, Germany and Brazil are performing tricks on the floor, or lying on sofas listening to their iPods. “Please speak to the Chinese girls if you have time. They need to practise their English”, reads a poster on the wall.

...

Some performers struggle to adjust to life after Cirque. It’s not just laundry, meals, medical care, education (there is a school on site) that are provided, the experience is holistic. If you get injured, the company will make sure you can get another job, train in other areas or study for an MBA.

Another precaution for life on the outside: every Cirque artist must learn to do their own make-up to the highest standard; not to save money, but to ensure they have another skill to take away with them." (Jones 2012)

Its employment principles are based on equal opportunity without distinction, exclusion or preference. The company has also deployed projects aiming health and safety in order to guarantee employee's physical and psychological integrity such as the implementation of clinic at international headquarters with doctor available and better assessment of operation's compliance with policies as well as the risks associated with acrobatic performances.

Environment. “Reducing the environmental impact of our operations”
The company is really committed to the environment, by having it as an important factor in its business decisions and adopting a highly proactive environmental policy. Some actions and projects:

- Water management: by using equipments that consumes less water, low-flow sanitation facilities and rainwater collection system to reuse the water in sanitary facilities and gardening needs; using water condensation from air-conditioning systems and use it in cleaning, washing machines and sanitation facilities in employee areas;

- Reduction of greenhouse gases emissions: by taking part in a new urban heating network which produces no greenhouse gases, upgrading its building control systems with presence-detection equipment, optimizing the cooling and heating water networks, modernizing the lighting equipment, replacing incandescent and halogen lights with LEDs;

- Invest funds in the Carbon Reserve, foundation that contributes to the achievement of numerous projects;

- Waste reduction: by recycling and composting, assessing collection and sorting methods with a view to improving them, using compost paper towels in the wash-rooms, setting up a system to collect and return bottles, setting up a system to recover wood pallets at the end of the North American leg of a tour, implementing a system for managing hazardous waste;

- Education programs to raise employees’ awareness.

Partnerships Procurement. “Making responsible choices in terms of partnerships and procurement”
The company makes big attempt, establishing an ongoing dialogue, in order to encourage its partners and suppliers to act responsibly. Cirque du Soleil's partnership agreements have a clause that covers social responsibility, which includes employee relations and working conditions, responsible procurement, environmental protection and social and cultural action in the community.

Communities. “Behaving like a responsible agent for change in communities”
Aiming social responsibility, the company has established several social and cultural programs, the most important ones:

Cirque du Monde – it is a social circus program which uses educational intervention to help at-risk youth between the ages of 8 and 25 such as street kids and homeless teenagers. The program is implanted in more than 80 communities worldwide in partnership with many local organisations. The focus of the program in each community is according to the problems that each community is facing. In South Africa, for instance, it is used to motivate kids born with HIV to follow their treatments. In Mongolia, workshops were held in juvenile prisons. In Quebec, social circus was used as truancy prevention tool and, in Australia, with women survivors of sexual violence.

ONE DROP Foundation - the organisation’s projects aim to improve access to safe clean drinking water around the world as well to promote education and public awareness of water issues. The foundation has deployed projects in Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador and India.

REFERENCES:
Cirque du Soleil n.d., Global Citizenship, Cirque du Soleil, accessed 12 Jan 2015, http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/global-citizenship/default.aspx

Cirque du Soleil 2014, 2014 Sustainability Roadmap, Cirque du Soleil, accessed 12 Jan 2015, http://static01.cirquedusoleil.com/en/~/media/about/global-citizenship/pdf/Review/Review2014.pdf

Cirque du Soleil n.d., Social Circus – Cirque du Monde, Cirque du Soleil, accessed 12 Jan 2015, https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/global-citizenship/social-circus/cirque-du-monde.aspx

ONE DROP 2014, Montreal, accessed 12 Jan 2015, http://www.onedrop.org/

Jones, L 2012, Cirque du Soleil: Life is one big balancing act, 9 Jan 2012, accessed 12 Jan 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-features/9002806/Cirque-du-Soleil-Life-is-one-big-balancing-act.html#disqus_thread