NYMF is musical theater's answer to the independent film movement, combining a grassroots festival model with a technical framework geared specifically to musicals. Located in the heart of the world’s largest theater district - midtown Manhattan, the Festival provides or subsidizes all the key components needed to realize a show, from theaters and technical equipment to marketing, industry and audience outreach, giving independent artists and emerging producers resources and opportunities they couldn’t otherwise access or afford, and giving rise to dozens of new works each summer.
The Festival provides theater lovers and industry scouts the opportunity to sample an unprecedented array of work, take risks on new artists, and to see some of the hottest musical theater talent tackling new roles in an intimate, affordable setting. Representing the diversity of the art form, the Festival's shows range from the serious to the ridiculous, from conventional musical comedies to avant-garde works, from operetta to punk rock, and everything in between.
With roughly 1,000 artists taking part in the Festival each summer, NYMF provides a fertile creative community that brings together both talented newcomers and some of New York's most established artists. The Festival provides writers, directors, actors, producers, choreographers, and designers at all stages of their careers valuable opportunities to take creative risks, hone their crafts, and expand their horizons.