- Who
- Phare Ponleu Selpak
- What
- 24:10:30 hour(s):minute(s):second(s)
- Where
- Cambodia (Battambang)
- When
- 2021
The longest circus show is 24 hr 10 min 30 sec, and was achieved by Phare Ponleu Selpak and Phare The Cambodian Circus (all Cambodia) in Battambang, Cambodia, between 7-8 March 2021.
Phare Ponleu Selpak are an organisation founded by Cambodian refugees to help children through war traumas and to restore the country's culture and education following the Khmer Rouge genocide. They now educate over 800 disadvantaged children and train hundreds more in the visual, musical and performing arts to help lift hundreds of families out of poverty and to keep the Cambodian culture alive.
They have taken innovative steps in the last decade to avoid dependence on handouts by creating a popular animal-free circus and tourist attraction which has funded their life saving programmes.
COVID-19 has been a catastrophe as it meant their performances and tourism came to a halt. Phare were desperate for funding and despite not having wealthy support networks or any fundraising budgets, came up with something truly creative to grab attention. The idea, which drew on the same creativity and resilience with which the organisation was born, was to achieve a Guinness World Records title.
