By: Ilana Siyance
The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) announced that after 15 years it is ceasing operations immediately. The board of directors for the NYMF made the announcement on Thursday January 2nd. The popular annual festival, which touted itself as the largest annual musical theatre event in the nation, had presenting cutting edge new musical theater since 2004. Over 400 shows have premiered at the festival since its inception, featuring over 8,000 artists and entertaining approximately 300,000 audience members. It was created to provide an effective platform to introduce new shows, perspectives, and new blood into the musical theatre canon, as per the company website.
According to an NYMF press release, the decision for the closure was made as a result of financial considerations. “The Board of Directors of the New York Musical Festival (NYMF) announced today that after 15 years of presenting vibrant, new musical theater, NYMF will cease operation immediately,” the company said in a statement. “It is with a heavy heart that we face the reality of the arts funding crisis in the United States. It has caught up with NYMF. The Board and donors have been valiantly subsidizing NYMF operations for 15 years, but looking ahead, we do not see a clear path forward.” The company filed for bankruptcy on Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
As reported by Broadway World, the board publicly praised the current executive director Scott Pyne, artistic director West Hyler, their staffs, and the hundreds of creative teams who have worked throughout the years to create first-rate new musicals. Hyler, Pyne and General Manager George Youakim recently resigned, after having worked without being paid since September. The company had moved out of its midtown office in 2019 to reduce expenses. Also, NYMF has not yet paid out owed ticket sales from 2019 to festival participants who are contractually owed a percentage of the ticket sales for productions.
Many well-known titles had their start in the festival including: Next To Normal, [title of show], Chaplin, In Transit, Altar Boyz, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Emojiland the Musical, Stuck and more. Emojiland: The Musical is moving up, starting an off-Broadway run later this month. In fact, many of the musicals and artists introduced at NYMF have gone on to further successes on and Off-Broadway, and around the world – reaching millions of theatergoers worldwide. NYMF had been honored with the 2013 Drama Desk Award, recognizing its first decade of creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form.
