DiscoverLabor Heritage Power HourBig Tops & Big Struggles: Labor, Art, and the Circus World
Big Tops & Big Struggles: Labor, Art, and the Circus World

Big Tops & Big Struggles: Labor, Art, and the Circus World

Update: 2025-09-11
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On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: former circus hand Chris Bricker talks with historian Andrea Ringer about her new book, Circus World: Roustabouts, Animals, and the Work of Putting on The Big Show—a deep dive into the hidden labor that built 14-acre tent cities, from riggers and animal trainers to strikes that shaped the spectacle. Then organizer and cultural strategist Ken Grossinger returns with updates on Art Works: How organizers and artists are creating a better world together and how artists and organizers are joining forces, why authoritarians target culture first, and what it takes to scale creative power across unions and communities.

PLUS, on Labor History in 2:00 : The Lattimer Massacre and Chicago Teachers Say, Enough!


Broadcast on September 11, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.

Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman.

The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.


@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio @kgrossinger #1u #unions #laborradiopod

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Big Tops & Big Struggles: Labor, Art, and the Circus World

Big Tops & Big Struggles: Labor, Art, and the Circus World

Christopher Garlock