29 Oct Guest Blog | The Village of Vale
KSF Artists of Choice, is open to artists across the disciplines of dance, theatre, musical theatre, music and film. Over the next few weeks, we will post guest blogs from some of our 2015 grant winners about how the grant has impacted their work. Applications will be open in early 2016.
Names | John McGrew, Jonathan Karpinos, Joseph Varca
Project | The Village of Vale
Year Awarded KSF Grant | 2015
The grant from KSF funded our show, The Village of Vale. It’s a new musical based on a series of original gothic fairytales.
It’s already had a huge impact on us, both collectively and personally. We did a workshop presentation of The Village of Vale in Brooklyn six months ago that maybe 150 people saw, and since this summer, KSF has really helped bring attention to the show and the work we’re doing on a level that was completely unimaginable when we started.
One of the great things about developing a new show is collaborating with all the different artists to make it happen. But that collaboration is almost impossible to have without some kind of support for the people involved. Thanks to KSF, we’re now able to financially support the musicians, actors and artists who are an integral part of the development process.
We’re currently developing the show as part of New Victory LabWorks at The New Victory Theater in NYC. Over the next several months we’ll continue rewriting the script and adding new music and characters to the stories. And then next June, we’ll have the opportunity to share the new show in a workshop setting, with the goal of a production soon after.
Beyond the grant itself, KSF’s level of commitment and engagement has been incredible. KSF will help you tell the world about your work. They’ll help you get mentoring from artists you admire. And even more than that, they’ll help you feel like your project is meaningful, valuable and inevitable.
Walking into our first development rehearsal this August was amazing. The feeling that not only are we supported by KSF but that every actor and musician with us that first week was supported, too, and will continue to be supported throughout this process.
If you want to make a show or put something together, don’t be afraid to reach out near and far to find collaborators. We’re lucky to have a wildly talented community of artist/friends who were instrumental in the development of the show. But we also reached out to total strangers, like illustrator Katy Horan, who has become an essential part of the process. If you have a story you’re passionate about, that can be enough to make a new connection.
Read more about The Village of Vale here.