FREEDOM RIDERS Musical Launches Kickstarter to Fund Return to NYMF

FREEDOM RIDERS: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSICAL has just launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to crowdsource the expenses for their spot in the upcoming 2017 New York Musical Festival (NYMF) this summer.

On a site like Kickstarter, where if you don't reach your target amount you don't get any money at all, FREEDOM RIDERS: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSICAL is making the bold move of setting their goal at $70,000. According to their Kickstarter video, this amount of money is necessary, and in fact spread thinly, in order to meet all their financial responsibilities.

The musical's writers, Richard Allen and Taran Gray, have created some unique incentives for those who donate to the Kickstarter, including what they are calling "WOKEwear."

"We wanted to offer change to those who believe in change through Non­Violent Direct Action," Richard Allen (Book, Music/Lyrics) says in the Kickstarter video. Taran Gray (Music/Lyrics) continues: "We wanted our perks to be equipping. We wanted our perks to bring a voice to the struggle."

FREEDOM RIDERS premiered last year as a BETA Event at NYMF to sold-out audiences and has since won the festival's inaugural BETA Event award. The musical now returns to the NYMF in the summer of 2017 as a full production.

You can view and support the FREEDOM RIDERS: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSICAL Kickstarter here.

FREEDOM RIDERS: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSICAL explores the true story of the 1961 Freedom Rides through the Deep South. The Freedom Rides were initially started by the Congress of Racial Equality and later picked up by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, marking a shift in leadership from one generation to another. It was the first time the Civil Rights Movement realized its power collectively as opposed to operating as separate organizations with their own agendas. The Freedom Rides where far from perfect. It was dangerous, scrappy and at time rudderless but it gave the Movement new life.