Members, Musicals & Milestones
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For those of you who don't know me, I'm Adam Grosswirth, and I've been NAMT's Member Services Director for almost 17 years (!!). In some ways that time has gone by in a blink. But then when I think about how much has changed in our industry, at NAMT itself, and especially in technology and how we communicate, it feels like several geological epochs. (Relevant to this month's Table Read newsletter: I opened my personal Twitter account in 2009 as we prepared for a marketing conference, and I figured I should find out what this thing people were talking about was. I wound up meeting some of my best friends there. Now we're on to something new — and better — as Frankie will tell you about below)!
NAMT was originally founded in 1985 (happy anniversary to us!) as a way for the leaders of a handful of nonprofit theatres to get together and share ideas and challenges. That idea remains at the core of our membership, and we now serve 135 producing organizations and 65 individual theatre professionals in 31 states and 5 countries outside the US, engaging not just with their top brass, but also with everyone in each org's staff. If you're not a member and know us mostly through the Festival of New Musicals or Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students, you may not be aware that we're active year-round beyond the New Works Department, producing two annual conferences, webinars and roundtables, providing online services, two granting programs, and connecting and supporting our members even when we can't be together in person.
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Say hello to Adam Grosswirth, NAMT's Member Services Director. Photo: Ric Kallaher
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Our members receive exclusive programming, content and opportunities, so even though some things we share here aren't open to everyone reading, we want you to know about all the work we do, and more importantly the great work our members do. If you're a donor (thank you!), then this is what you're supporting. If you're a writer, these are the amazing people who want to produce your musical. If you work for a theatre... join us and be a part of this incredibly vibrant community of people who are as passionate about musical theatre as you are!
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Our upcoming Spring Conference, hosted by Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham, AL, will be all about marketing in this moment. Not just selling tickets (though definitely selling tickets!), but also how the marketing department is a communications hub for the entire theatre — working with other departments, branding the institution, dealing with crises, and getting the message out that what we do matters to our communities and our audiences. If you're a member, you can register now to join us in Birmingham or online. If you're not a member but want to be, it's a great way to learn more and meet some of the most amazing theatre leaders out there. Email me to learn more!
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Adam Grosswirth
NAMT Member Services Director
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Stay in the loop! Check out announcements from the NAMT Network:
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NAMT’s New Works Director outlines a new marketing opportunity for artists and arts organizations to approach social media in a stable environment while owning their content online. Read the full article here.
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Social media is both the birthplace of modern fanclubs… and increasingly a necessary evil. And if you follow me, you might know I’ve been pushing a new platform pretty hard lately for artists and arts organizations.
So, remember when you couldn’t access your account anymore during the “Big Blip” of TikTok? Or perhaps when you closed your Twitter account, you needed to request your archival account data? What if you could just move all of it? Your audience, data, profile and more — take them with you to a new platform instead and pick up where you left off.
YouTube boasts over 2.5 billion monthly users, surpassing Facebook’s self-assessed 2.2 billion. Instagram and TikTok claim near 2 billion users globally, with 500 million active daily on Instagram and a whopping 1.5 billion scrolling daily on TikTok. That’s an incredible amount of competition. With the crash-out disappearance of the fourth most popular social platform last weekend and changing moderation and AI policies, it’s harder than ever to trust these platforms as reliable venues for developing an audience, marketing or supporting an organization.
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The new AT Protocol platform launched in February and gained 23M users by the end of the year as an open-source alternative to the bot-bastion-at-best anti-social graveyard formerly known as Twitter. Today, Bluesky hosts nearly 29M users with upwards of 2M daily posters, 40% in the US, growing by between 2 to 10 users per second depending on the time of day. But what’s AT Protocol? Authenticated Transfer Protocol is a framework for social media that empowers users with ownership of their content, identity, audience and data. Unlike centralized platforms like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, where a company owns all data and decisions, AT Protocol allows multiple platforms to connect under a shared standard, promoting competition and preventing any single company from controlling user-created content, even Bluesky. In other words, you own your content instead of renting it. [read more]
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New@NAMT: The Next Wave of Musical Theatre Writers is a bite-sized series dedicated to spotlighting the emerging voices in musical theatre. Hosted by Jean-Paul Yovanoff in partnership with Musical Theatre Radio and a rotating cast of NAMT alumni writers, each 20- to 30-minute episode features quick interviews providing a unique glimpse into the creative minds behind the next wave of musical theatre.
In Season 2, we welcome back the winners of the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students and learn more about their Winners Weekend experience in New York City. Joining the winning student songwriters are NAMT Mentor Artists Joey Contreras, Dylan Glatthorn, Timothy Huang, Teresa Lotz, Jaime Lozano, Zeniba Now, Jesse J. Sanchez & Anessa Marie Scolpini to dive deep into the ever changing atmosphere of musical songwriting!
Listen live on Mondays at 7pm EST on musicaltheatreradio.com or stream anywhere you enjoy podcasts each week!
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A hub for everything above and more, NAMT Staff are excited to announce a new page on our website at namt.org/recommended. We hope this becomes a useful and fun resource for discovering new musicals and a means of creating awareness for successes in all corners of NAMT’s New Works community.
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Winter Break Song Share!
January 27th, 6:00 pm to 9:00pm ET (Zoom)
One-on-One Sessions with Special Guests:
Chaz Cardigan (The Brass Teapot, Fest ’24)
Melissa Li & Kit Yan (Interstate, Fest ’19 & MISS STEP, FYFNM ’24)
Be Steadwell (Dear Ex, Fest ’24)
With Draft 1 Submissions around the corner, join us for our Winter Break Song Share for the chance to polish up your songs! This unique, virtual experience provides one-on-one mini work sessions where you can share your song, or any piece of it, with a professional musical theatre writer. This event is for High School Students interested in the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge.
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Conference Continued: Broadening the Enhancement Model
February 12, 2025 3:00 pm ET (Zoom)
Join us for Conference Continued! a series of online roundtables expanding and exploring topics from NAMT’s Conferences. This month: As the cost of commercial production continues to rise, are there more modest ways to develop new plays and musicals that don’t saddle future Broadway productions (if you’re lucky enough to get there) with outsized development baggage? How can producers and creative teams actually create bespoke opportunities to do the specific work each project needs? Who are partners we have not yet engaged? This conversation will be led by Paige Price and Rick Boynton. This online event is open to NAMT members and invited guests only.
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Spring Conference 2025: Backstage to Box Office: Building Better Branding
April 9-11, 2025 in Birmingham, AL
Start the new year off right by registering for the musical theatre marketing event of the year! Join us at Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham, AL for in-depth sessions on marketing best practices, innovations and the state of the field. In addition to panels, breakouts and speakers, attendees will have plenty of time to network, enjoy local cuisine and explore some of Birmingham’s top attractions. Discounts are available for multiple attendees from your organization to attend, and the official Conference hotel starts at just $129/night.
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Pearl Studios is the official rehearsal studio for the NAMT Festival of New Musicals. Pearl Studios is conveniently located in Midtown Manhattan on 8th Avenue between 35th & 36th Streets, and offers two floors of clean, bright and flexible rooms fit for all your rehearsal needs. For bookings, call 212-904-1850 or email contactus@pearlstudiosnyc.com.
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