New York Musical Theater Festival

The New York Musical Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theatre.

Like any great art form, musical theater is shaped by the events and philosophies of the day. The strength and vitality of musical theater lie in its ability to stay fresh and relevant. It was with that idea in mind, 14 years ago, that the New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was created – to provide an effective platform to introduce new shows, new perspectives, and new blood into the musical theatre canon.

The first Festival, staged in 2004, featured over thirty new fully staged full-length musicals and was met with critical and popular acclaim. More than 400 shows have premiered at the Festival since then, featuring more than 8,000 artists and entertaining more than 300,000 audience members. The musicals and artists introduced at NYMF have, in turn, gone on to further successes on and Off-Broadway, across the country, and around the globe – reaching literally millions of theatergoers worldwide.

NYMF was honored with a 2013 Drama Desk Award recognizing its first decade of creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form.