The Big Apple Circus, an annual visitor to Boston for the past three decades, announced Friday that it will close unless it can raise $2 million in the next two months.

In a prepared statement, executive director Will Maitland Weiss said a fund-raising drive is under way to keep the New York-based nonprofit organization afloat. “The Big Apple Circus is in trouble,’’ Weiss said.

As a principal reason for the circus’s financial woes, Weiss cited a “significant’’ decline in revenue from private performances for companies — a drop that he said began after the recession took hold in 2008-09. Weiss also pointed to the impact of major events that occurred in cities where the circus was performing, including the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the Blizzard of 2014. A statement on a website set up for donations, www.savethecircus.org, also cited “spiraling touring costs’’ as a factor.

All told, according to The New York Times, the circus’s revenue dropped to $14 million last year, down from $19 million in the 2007-08 season.

For 29 years, the Big Apple Circus has brought its array of jugglers, contortionists, aerialists, balance specialists, clowns (including Grandma, portrayed by Barry Lubin, now retired from the circus), horses and dogs to Boston. The circus has performed at City Hall Plaza for the last 11 years, usually for a seven-week run, according to spokesperson. (Earlier locations included the Boston waterfront and the Bayside Expo Center parking lot in Dorchester.)

This year’s show, which ran from March to May and was titled “The Grand Tour,’’ was set in the 1920s and designed to showcase what Big Apple Circus called “the golden age of transportation.’’ Globe reviewer James Sullivan praised the show’s “impressive feats,’’ including aerial performances, human pyramids and springboard stunts, and described the show as “good-old timeless fun.’’

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.