National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the creation and inaugural year of NAMT’s Festival Observership for Early-Career Directors. In line with NAMT’s strategic plan, and in celebration of the 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals, NAMT will launch a directing observership program, dedicated to providing professional development and networking opportunities to early-career directors by exposing them to the Festival process and the NAMT membership. 
To encourage and expand diversity in the musical theatre pipeline, a key priority in NAMT’s strategic plan, this program will provide these opportunities specifically for: directors of color; directors with disabilities; women directors; and LGBTQ directors. All who self-identify with one or more of these categories and consider themselves early-career directors are encouraged to apply for the program.
The observership will invite eight early-career directors with a demonstrated interest in musical theatre to be a part of the NAMT Festival process from start to finish. The selected observers will gain first-hand exposure to the new musical development process, learning the techniques that established directors employ while working with writers to bring a musical to life. In addition to joining the Festival process, the selected observers will receive a Select Pass to the Festival, a single-day pass to NAMT’s Fall Conference (typically open only to NAMT members), a small stipend, and an exclusive chance to be introduced to the NAMT membership, made up of some of the world’s leading musical theatre producers, prior to the Festival. Additional networking opportunities will be announced at a later date.
Further information about the program, along with the application itself, can be found on the NAMT website. Applications will be accepted through June 15, 2018.
Programming details for the 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals will be announced in early summer.