Our beloved Nicholas (Nic) Balkum was born in Denver, Colorado on the 5th of March in 1987, and passed away in Wellington, New Zealand on the 25th of September, 2026. He was 39 years young.
Nic had a very close relationship with his parents, Earl Thomas (Tom) Balkum and Carol Ellen Scott Balkum. They supported him through a Waldorf education and accompanied him to High Mowing School in New Hampshire, where they both worked and inspired the lives of those present throughout Nic’s high school education. Before he ever worked professionally on circus performance, Nic was juggling and unicycling with friends at school.
For university, Nic attended Johnson State College in Vermont, earning a degree in Technical Theatre in 2009. He specialised in lighting design, and worked in live entertainment in the Burlington region through those years. After graduating, Nic was employed full time as the Master Electrician (the US theatre equivalent of Head of Lighting) at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, New Hampshire. While there, he developed his passion for rigging. From 2012 to 2014, Nic traveled the US on and off with close friends Genevieve Poppe and George Lutz, adventuring, working on festivals and events, climbing the high steel, and becoming a stage pirate.
In 2014, Nic and Gen took the adventure overseas to New Zealand, where they’d expected to spend one year. Instead, they swiftly fell in love with the most beautiful place on earth, filled with the most beautiful people. Despite sometimes being unable to decipher a rapid-fire NZ accent (especially in the early days), Nic decided to stay and make Wellington his home, becoming a New Zealand citizen (though never adopting the Kiwi accent).
After arriving in Wellington, he quickly made his mark on the live entertainment sector before spending time overseas as a rigger with Cirque du Soleil. On his return to NZ, Nic co-founded production rigging company, YOOCrew, with his best friend, Sam Johnston, in 2019. Nic’s influence spread around the country as he nurtured newcomers to the industry and developed innumerable friendships through a shared love of rigging, many of which remain his closest circle of friends. Nic’s ethos was always to put people first, making everyone feel comfortable and safe. This attitude is visible in all those he worked shoulder-to-shoulder with and endures as part of his legacy.
Nic met the love of his life, Laura Oakley, in 2019 and began the greatest adventure of his life with her. Nic and Laura shared a great passion for circus, him as a rigger and her as a performer. Whatever Laura was thinking, Nic was behind her 100%. He was a huge support behind the scenes at REVEL, RAW, and Circus in the Gardens, among many more local circus shows. They worked on WOW together in 2019 and 2025. Nic and Laura worked hard to advocate, promote, and make the local circus scene in Pōneke safe and accessible. Through great adventures, challenges and losses, Nic was the most kind and loving partner. “We always kept each other laughing and smiling. He was the greatest gift of my life, I am beyond lucky to have been loved by him”. In the words of the Grateful Dead, “Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell”.
Nic is survived by a wide network of loving family across the US, and chosen family in New Zealand. In addition to his parents, Carol and Tom, Nic is predeceased by his brother, James Thomas Balkum, and sister, Catherine Taylor Balkum.
