The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery debuts at Ringling Circus Museum
The Ringling Circus Museum’s newest exhibition space – The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery – will debut on April 6, 2024, in Sarasota Fla.
Beginning with the 1967 purchase of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey by Irvin Feld, The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery will trace the first fifty years of the Feld family’s stewardship when the circus experience was elevated “to new heights,” and continue the story told throughout the Circus Museum of how Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey become one of the most well-recognized brands in the world.
“The innovations that Feld Entertainment Inc. developed for The Greatest Show On Earth inspired our new gallery that combines objects, interactives and immersive technology to create a completely unique experience,” said The Ringling Executive Director Steven High. “We are thrilled to finally have permanent gallery space dedicated to the era of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that many of our visitors remember.”
The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery
Visitors can explore artifacts, costumes, and media footage in an engaging and multisensory experience throughout the gallery space, designed to replicate the experience of seeing a live show while representing production elements from both front- and back-of-house perspectives.
The entrance to The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery features an iconic artifact donated by Feld Entertainment Inc. that traveled across the country with the touring show – a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey sign – which invites visitors into the new exhibit space, which consists of three sections.
The gallery’s first section explains the Feld family’s history through artifacts related to the Feld family’s transformation of the circus business.
Curator of Circus at The Ringling Jennifer Lemmer Posey explains:
The late 1960s was a critical period for the circus. Just a decade before, Ringling Bros. had stopped performing under the big top and moved their shows to indoor venues. Irvin Feld understood they had to work twice as hard to fill those familiar arenas with immersive and breathtaking spectacles [and] did so by introducing lavish costumes and scenic elements combined with the latest technologies in lighting and sound.
The gallery’s second room includes an interactive media component featuring more than 120 circus acts, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the show came together each season from concept development to execution. The third section offers a combination of multimedia and three-dimensional presentations that present the spectacle of circus performance.
“As Feld Entertainment Inc. relaunches Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey across the U.S. in 2024, the history contained within the museum’s newest gallery is more relevant than ever,” Lemmer Posey said. “The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery provides an engaging introduction to the living history that has led to this newest iteration of Ringling Bros.”
Read more about the new Ringing Bros. Circus here.
To honor the fact that circuses present a new show every season, The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery will regularly rotate its content and offer new iterations of the objects and stories on display, encouraging return visits.
The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery opens on April 6, 2024, on the second floor of the Tibbals Learning Center in Sarasota, Fla. Click here for more information.
