VCU revives Atlanta’s Creative Circus ad school

Editor’s note: The print version of this story in the May 2024 issue of Virginia Business incorrectly reported the amount of Virginia Commonwealth University’s purchase of the Creative Circus. VCU acquired Creative Circus’ branding and intellectual assets from Texas-based Ancora Education for $75,000.

The potential bottom line wasn’t the sole motivator behind Virginia Commonwealth University’s purchase in December 2023 of the Creative Circus, a well-known Atlanta advertising portfolio school.

“I want to be very careful that the intention is not seen as a purely business acquisition,” says Vann Graves, executive director of the Brandcenter, VCU’s graduate program for advertising, branding and marketing. “Really, it was a way to ensure that there are different levels and different pipelines and opportunities for students into the industry.”

Founded in 1995, the Creative Circus shut its doors at the end of 2022, due to declining enrollment. At one time, however, the school served as a “vital part of the pipeline into the industry,” Graves says. “And we think it’s important to keep it alive.”

Joe Maglio, CEO of McKinney, a Durham, North Carolina-based national advertising agency, agrees. McKinney provided financial support to VCU to help the school relaunch the Creative Circus. VCU purchased the Creative Circus’ branding and intellectual assets from Texas-based Ancora Education for $75,000. (McKinney and VCU declined to disclose the amount of the ad agency’s donation.)

“We’re working closely with the university to advise on the rollout of the curriculum as this new iteration of the Creative Circus is developed,” Maglio said in a statement to Virginia Business.

In late March, VCU named Berwyn Hung as director of the revived Creative Circus at VCU. Hung, who has taught at the Brandcenter since 2011, was director of program development at the Creative Circus, where he also taught, from 1998 to 2011.

He remembers feeling disappointed when he heard the school was closing. “It was hard not to be sad, because I helped build so much of what it was,” Hung says. “It was really nice finding out we had bought [the Creative] Circus, and that we’re going to be bringing it back.”

Numerous graduates from Atlanta’s Creative Circus hold top roles at advertising agencies nationwide. The school filled a niche for students who earned bachelor’s degrees in advertising but who often graduated without having worked in the creative side of the business — think copywriting, photography or design — according to David Haan, executive director of the Creative Circus from 2009 to 2022.

“If you came out with an advertising degree, it was pretty easy to [get hired] as an account executive or a media person or even a research person, but creative was kind of a different animal,” Haan says. “I don’t just show up at the Atlanta Falcons and say, ‘Hey, I’m a pretty good football player. Do you want to hire me?’”

While most students at the Creative Circus had undergraduate degrees, Hung remembers teaching some students there who weren’t yet old enough to drink and others who had a year or two of college under their belts but had decided to work on their advertising portfolios instead of chasing a diploma. 

During his tenure at Atlanta’s Creative Circus, Hung developed about two new classes a year. “We were able to do a lot of crazy things that you probably couldn’t do today without getting fired,” he recalls.

For instance, Hung would write the names of the students who were the losers of different challenges on posters, which were publicly displayed. And in one particularly tough class, called Design Deathmatch, the student who got the worst grade on a project — even if that grade was a B — failed the assignment.

“It was kind of like the Wild West,” Hung says.

Several years before the Creative Circus announced it was closing, Haan could see the market shifting. Some state schools, which had previously fed students to Atlanta’s Creative Circus, began offering creative tracks, and some ad agencies began training newcomers who demonstrated talent on the job, according to Haan.

Like its previous Atlanta-based incarnation, VCU’s Creative Circus will employ industry leaders to teach classes.

Initially, the Creative Circus at VCU will offer virtual classes, but eventually Graves would like to offer hybrid instruction. Classes could begin as soon as spring 2025, according to Graves.

The first courses will focus on copywriting, art direction, design and content creation. “The goal is for it to be focused on foundational learning,” Graves says.

He hopes to keep the cost of each course between $1,200 and $1,800.

VCU’s Creative Circus will be a certificate program, but the university hopes to ultimately offer stackable credentials, which could be applied toward an undergraduate degree.

Maglio believes it’s important to offer a path for people who don’t have the inclination, time or money to attend graduate school to get a foothold in the advertising industry.

“It’s all about unleashing the untapped potential and the creativity that exists in so many people, regardless of their starting point,” he said. “Ultimately, the Creative Circus will fuel our industry by graduating a new generation of talent with diverse backgrounds and unique points of view, ready to roll on day one.”