The founder and President of the renowned US based UniverSoul Circus, Cedric
Walker, recently met with the South African Roadies Association (SARA) President,
Freddie Nyathela, in Johannesburg. The pair were discussing opportunities for young
South Africans to be part of the UniverSoul Circus 2017 USA touring technical and
production crew for 10 months. Young staff employed by the touring show will be
empowered with technical and production knowledge and skills whilst on the job and
being paid.

The UniverSoul Circus is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is a world-class live
entertainment attraction that has captured the hearts and imaginations of a new
generation of families. Now celebrating its 20th year, the circus has become known
worldwide as a one-of-a-kind, must see attraction.

UniverSoul Circus is rated by industry leaders as one of the top three circuses in
America along with Ringling Brothers and Cirque du Soleil. UniverSoul’s fresh, cool
and hip approach to live family entertainment has earned it a coveted spot as one
of Ticketmaster’s top ten most requested family attractions, along with other shows,
including Disney on Ice, Disney’s High School Musical Ice Show and Ringling
Brothers Circus.

Cedric Walker was first bitten by the entertainment bug in the early 70’s, working
with the musical group called the Commodores, Cedric became their production and
stage manager and toured with them around the world. He later worked as a
promoter for the Jackson Five.

He struck out on his own in the 1980s when he organized the Fresh Festivals, the
world’s first rap music tour featuring the likes of Run DMC, Salt n Pepa and The Fat
Boys. In the early 1990s, he underwrote and helped produce a couple of highly
successful gospel plays, “Wicked Ways” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”

By the mid 1990s, Walker and his associates began to look for new forms of family
entertainment: “The vision was to explore the various talents other than singing and
dancing that black performers had to offer,” he said. “We wanted to apply our
gathered years of experience in the live event industry, to make a difference, to
change the industry we lived in, creating growth and opportunity.” That vision led
him to create UniverSoul Circus

SARA and the UniverSoul Circus first began working together in 2002 and a fruitful
relationship ensued for the next seven years that saw a total of 121 people
receive ten months of on the job paid for training experience in the USA per year,
as part of the UniverSoul Circus technical and production crew. Due to logistical
issues, the programme was halted in late 2008. Now, eight years later, SARA is
extremely pleased to announce the resuscitation of the programme. “It is alife
changing experience for those who make the grade’ said SARA