A key component of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s mission is to nurture the creation, development, production and recognition of new musicals. NAMT oversees a number of programs to nurture writers and to encourage collaboration between producers and writers.
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Festival of New Musicals

Since 1989, the Festival has introduced musical theatre producers to over 250 musicals and 475 writers from around the world. More than three-fourths of these shows have gone on to subsequent productions and tours. Held every fall in New York City, the Festival showcases a select group of new musicals before a select audience of NAMT members and industry professionals with the experience and resources to move the work forward.

 

Past Festival productions include Don McKellar, Bob Martin, Greg Morrison and Lisa Lambert's The Drowsy Chaperone; Richard Morris, Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori's Thoroughly Modern Millie; Stephen Schwartz and John Caird's Children of Eden; Kirsten Childs' The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin; George Stiles and Anthony Drewes' Honk!; Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World; and Hunter Foster and David Kirshenbaum's Summer of '42.

Read more about the NAMT Festival of New Musicals.

National Fund for New Musicals

Launched in October 2008, the National Fund for New Musicals is a support system and granting initiative to help not-for-profit NAMT member theatres collaborate with one another and with other musical theatre artists as they work together to create a new musical.  The Fund provides grants in three categories, which together reflect a musical’s trajectory from early collaboration, through project development, to full production. We also give out quarterly grants to support writers' residencies in member theatres.
Since 2009, we have given out 36 grants totaling $154,000. NAMT believes that the National Fund for New Musicals will have a major impact on the field by offering theatres and writers the financial impetus and support to produce new musicals that will ultimately enter the canon and create the classics of tomorrow. 

Read more about the National Fund for New Musicals.

New Works Summits and Writers' Roundtables

Held annually, the Summits provide NAMT members the chance to discuss collaboration on new work and to showcase new projects. Summits have been held in partnership with organizations such as the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Collaborative Arts Project 21, BMI Lehman Engel Workshop, and the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
Now held regionally around the country, the New Works Summits now convene at NAMT member theatres to see exciting new work in development and discuss regional models and trends for developing new musicals.

 

The Writers' Roundtable is held annually for Festival Alumni Writers to gather together with NAMT members to discuss trends in the field and aid in the professional development of our alumni.

Read more about the Summits and Roundtables.

New Works Network

The online New Musicals Directory and Festival Alumni Directory, accessible to NAMT members and Festival Alumni Writers only, provide an opportunity for writers to keep producers up to date on their musicals. NAMT members can also find contact information for over 475 writers who have submitted their work to the Festival of New Musicals.

Visit the New Works Network (NAMT members and alumni only).

Producer Writer Initiative (PWI) Grant

NAMT launched the PWI in 2004 to foster the development of new work and build relationships between writers and producers during the early stages of creating new musicals. From 2004-2008, 24 grants of up to $3,000 were awarded to NAMT members. From these beginnings, we created the National Fund for New Musicals, which supports all stages of development with grants of up to $20,000.