Cambodia’s Tini Tinou International Circus Festival will link Siem Reap and Battambang through a new “Angkor to Arts Corridor” this November, with organisers seeking to turn the country’s contemporary arts into a stronger draw for tourists and encourage longer stays.
Announced on October 20 by Phare Ponleu Selpak and the Cambodia Tourism Board (CTB), the festival’s 13th edition will run from November 17–24, bringing circus performances, creative workshops and public activities to both cities.
The ambition is to take travellers on a journey that connects Angkor’s ancient heritage with the artists, stages and creative communities of present-day Cambodia.
Organisers hope that sense of movement and spectacle will carry visitors from Siem Reap to Battambang.
“Tini Tinou 2026 is a major catalyst for evolving Cambodia’s national brand beyond a heritage-exclusive destination,” explained festival project director Khuon Chanreaksmey.
“By bridging Siem Reap and Battambang into a single, seamless cultural corridor, we give international visitors a compelling reason to extend their stays, explore regional creative economies and immerse themselves in our nation’s living arts,” she added.
The festival opens in Siem Reap from November 17–19, centred at Phare, The Cambodian Circus. Pop-up performances are also planned for Pub Street, Royal Garden and Treeline Hotel, alongside mainstage shows, workshops, children’s activities, arts and crafts, and local food vendors.
It then moves to Battambang from November 21–24, with activities at the Phare Ponleu Selpak campus and across city spaces.
A grand circus street parade will begin at Independence Monument and travel through the city to Seh Sor Roundabout. Giant puppets, evening pop-ups, an arts and crafts market and community activities will extend the programme beyond the main performance venues.
According to organisers, the timing around the Water Festival holiday offers domestic and international travellers an opportunity to combine the two destinations.
CTB chief executive officer Kim Minea said the partnership would support the festival’s overseas promotion and help reach international visitors earlier in their travel planning.
“Like many outstanding events in Cambodia, the Tini Tinou International Circus Festival offers a truly unique cultural experience for international travellers. However, it has yet to receive the international awareness and recognition it deserves,” he said.
Support comes through CTB’s Matching Grant Programme for overseas event promotion. The programme offers co-investment of up to $20,000 per event, although the announcement did not disclose the amount allocated to Tini Tinou.
Minea said the partnership also supported efforts to position Cambodia as a year-round destination where contemporary arts, culture and creativity complement its established attractions.
The programme will bring together more than 100 performers and artists, with highlights including the world premiere of a collaboration between Phare and Australia’s ARC Circus, combining Cambodian acrobatics, Australian physical theatre and cross-cultural storytelling.
French choreographer Fouad Boussouf’s production NÄSS, which brings together urban hip-hop and traditional North African rhythms, will also make its Cambodian premiere, alongside the vertical dance production of the Company Aye Panik.
Alongside the public performances, the Circus Asia Network will stage its annual general meeting, bringing artists, producers and cultural organisations together for professional exchanges and potential collaborations.
The festival will also look back at the refugee-camp art workshops from which Phare’s work emerged.
A special retrospective will trace that journey, while a new permanent Phare Heritage Museum in Battambang will display approximately 200 original framed drawings created by displaced Cambodian children at Site 2 Refugee Camp during the 1980s and 1990s.
Phare Ponleu Selpak, established in Battambang in 1994, now supports children and young people through arts, education and social programmes. Its associated social enterprise, Phare, The Cambodian Circus, provides employment for Cambodian artists.
For executive director Osman Khawaja, the festival offers a way to bring that continuing story to a wider audience.
“This festival is an open invitation to the world: come to Cambodia not only to marvel at our ancient stone temples, but to feel the heartbeat of our living, contemporary culture,” he said.