NYMF Seeks Submissions for 2017 Next Link Project; Michael Cerveris, Leigh Silverman & More on Grand Jury

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF), previously known as The New York Musical Theatre Festival, is now accepting submissions for the 2017 Next Link Project.

The Next Link Project is the cornerstone of NYMF's Programming. Submissions are open to any writer, produced or unproduced, with or without agency representation. Next Link shows receive entrepreneurial training, networking opportunities, and dramaturgical support, culminating in a subsidized production in the Festival. To submit a show, you must have a finished script and at least 75% of the songs recorded. All entries undergo double-blind evaluations by members of NYMF's reading committee, with finalists reviewed by our Grand Jury of industry professionals. Approximately 10 shows are chosen each year.

The 2017 Next Link Project submissions are now open. Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, November 1st. Those who submit materials by Monday, October 10th will receive an early bird discount of $20 off the standard $75 application fee. For more information or to submit a show, visit www.nymf.org/nextlink.

The Grand Jury is responsible for making final selections for the Next Link Project shows with the Director of Programming and Artist Services. The 2017 NYMF Grand Jury will include Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris, OBIE and Drama Desk Award-winning actress Donna Lynne Champlin, Two River Theater Literary Manager Anika Chapin, Tony Award-winning producer Jane Dubin, Apollo Theatre Executive Director and Hi-ARTS Co-Founder Kamilah Forbes, Fox Stage Productions Senior VP, Creative Affairs Isaac Robert Hurwitz, director West Hyler (Paramour), actor Telly Leung (Allegiance), OBIE Award-winning director Jonathan McCrory, Women's Project Theater Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, Public Theater Literary Associate Jack Phillips Moore, Playwrights Realm Producing Director Roberta Pereira, choreographer Sam Pinkleton (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812), actress Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof), Tony Award-nominated director Leigh Silverman, and Tony Award-winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo.

Dan Markley serves as NYMF Executive Director & Producer and Rachel Sussman serves as Director of Programming & Artist Services.

In 2016, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment joined as an Elite Festival Sponsor. Returning Elite Festival Sponsors included Fuzzrocket, PRG, TheaterMania and Clear Channel Spectacolor. NYMF also partnered with Reyka Vodka as Official Liquor Sponsor of the 2016 Festival. In addition, global brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide partnered with NYMF this year to provide pro bono branding support for the organization.

To keep up with NYMF, visit the NYMF website at NYMF.org where you can also subscribe to the NYMF Newsletter.

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

Now in its fourteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 20 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

New York Musical Festival is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.