The Creative Circus Announces It Will Close in 2023

Atlanta's Creative Circus, one of the ad industry's best-known portfolio schools, announced on LinkedIn today that it would cease offering classes in 2023. "Due to a myriad of factors—sadly, many beyond our control—The Creative Circus will cease new student enrollment, effective spring quarter, 2022," the LinkedIn post said. "As of now, we are scheduled to close operations in late 2023." Founded in 1995 by veteran advertising creative Norm Grey, The Creative Circus is one of several schools that offer two-year programs aimed at helping students develop the portfolio and skills needed to land a job at an ad agency. Adweek has not yet spoken to administrators at the school about the specific reasons for the closure, though warning bells have been tolling worldwide for ad schools throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the creative industry's ongoing digital transformation. As word of the planned closure spread quickly among Creative Circus alumni, several shared with Adweek their experiences of attending the school at different points in its nearly three-decade existence. Danielle Hawley, global executive creative director of Uber, said she was "very sad and very honored" as she thought back on her time at the school from 2000 to 2002. It prepared you for questioning briefs and considering what was going on in culture when you were approaching ideas.—Danielle Hawley, global ECD, Uber Having graduated from Southern Methodist University's advertising program, she was advised by local agency executives to finish her training at Creative Circus, which they felt would leave her fully prepared for her career. "It was not a school like you've ever seen a school behave," she recalled. "It was sort of like a bullpen of what really having a job in advertising would feel like." While she said the connections made at the school were what had the biggest impact on her career, Hawley said Creative Circus also taught skills and approaches that might be difficult to learn on your own. "It prepared you for questioning briefs and considering what was going on in culture when you were approaching ideas," she said. "They also prepared you for things like not turning away small opportunities. As creative people, it's your job to create something out of nothing." 'A pressure cooker' that filled a mentorship gap Mitch Bennett, executive creative director at Raleigh, N.C.-based agency Baldwin&, remembers Creative Circus as "a pressure cooker of a program" when he, like Hawley, attended from 2000 to 2002. In that era, Bennett said, college advertising programs often couldn't compete with the emerging roster of portfolio schools like Creative Circus and Miami Ad School (founded in 1993). In the early 2000s, Bennett said, getting a job in advertising without going through a portfolio school felt difficult. But in recent years, Bennett has noticed four-year colleges stepping up their game and developing more practicality-centered offerings, such as the University of Alabama's Minerva portfolio program. That was the promise of The Creative Circus: You would learn how to not suck at advertising.—Mitch Bennett, ECD, Baldwin& Hawley also noted that today's potential students have a wide range of digital options for illustrating their creative talents without having to build a former portfolio of ad work. "There are so many ways now that folks can express their creativity," she said, "so many channels that didn't exist back then." However, the need remains for emerging talents to get the kind of mentorship they might not find at their first full-time jobs, Bennett said. "Often when you hire young people, you have to teach them everything about advertising, and there's just not much time for that," he said. "That was the promise of The Creative Circus: You would learn how to not suck at advertising." How Creative Circus' impact has evolved While Creative Circus might be best known for its high-profile creative leaders who went through its program during the less fragmented advertising era of the early 2000s, more recent students say the school has remained a valuable resource. Brian Revels, now a copywriter at FCB Chicago and co-host of ad-centric show The Bad Podcast, was cobbling together work opportunities like waiting tables and running the Instagram feed for a local coffee shop when he learned about The Creative Circus. Revels borrowed enough money from a great-aunt to try out the school's two-month summer program, then decided to go all in, taking out student loans to finance his time at Creative Circus in 2018 and 2019. For Revels, Creative Circus, while costly, offered a life-changing path to steady employment. "I was piecemealing so many different careers together to make ends meet," he said. "Creative Circus gave me a chance to experience the Monday-to-Friday consistency, whereas as a gig employee, it was seven days a week all the time." I learned more that summer than I did in my whole four years of an advertising bachelor’s degree.—Madison Getgood, copywriter, Virtue Worldwide Even a relatively brief encounter with The Creative Circus could have a considerable impact on students. Madison Getgood, copywriter at Virtue Worldwide in New York, attended the Creative Circus summer program in 2019. "I learned more that summer than I did in my whole four years of an advertising bachelor’s degree," she said. Most importantly, the program helped Getgood make a defining pivot in her professional life. "I wholeheartedly credit the Creative Circus for making me a copywriter," she said. "I thought I wanted to be an art director, didn’t even really know what copywriting was, and didn’t know I was any good at it until I had teachers guiding me and telling me I was." What Is Threatening the World’s Top Ad Schools?

Leadership & Talent

The Creative Circus, One of Advertising's Iconic Portfolio Schools, Will Close in 2023

Surprised alumni reflect on the Atlanta-based program's impact over its 27 years

David Griner

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David Griner