THE GOLDEN BRIDE - Behind The Scenes
The National Yiddish Theatre is the longest continuously producing Yiddish theatre company in the world. A big piece of their work centers around educating the public on Jewish heritage through performances, lectures and interactive workshops.
We caught up with project leaders Julia Osen Averill, Jeff Newelt and Chris Massimine to get insights on their latest project 'The Golden Bride', which is currently running a live RocketHub campaign.
What was the inspiration behind your “Golden Bride” project - and how did it come about?
After years of restoring the hit 1923 Yiddish operetta, we presented the first revival in over 70 years. Tickets went fast, critical acclaim piled on (including NY Times cover story and Critics’ Pick), and after the closing performance, pleas to “bring it back” poured in. In response to public demand we decided to do a remount of the production this summer, once again at our beautiful home The Museum of Jewish Heritage. Our decision to do a crowdfunding campaign to help us bring back The Golden Bride comes partially from our name Foksbiene, which means people’s stage. Through art and music we strive to tell the story of perseverance, strength and power of the Jewish people and the importance of continuity in legacy. We are an organization dedicated and supported by the people who comprise our community. We wanted to give everyone a chance to be a part of bringing back this production. Professional theatre is a very expensive endeavor and adding a remount of this size and caliber to our season requires the support of our community.
What has your experience been launching an "experiential arts venture” through crowdfunding?
We knew that this would be a challenging endeavor especially because much of our audience is not familiar with crowdfunding. The key was to make sure we had a variety of materials to do outreach, to incentivize giving, and to make sure we had enough people working with us to spread and maintain the campaign. We prepped for several weeks, reached out to press organizations, researched best practices for crowdfunding campaigns, and tried to be as organized as possible before the launch of the campaign to bring back The Golden Bride. It is a constant job to continue to make sure that the reach of our campaign is expanding.
What were some surprises (both positive and negative) that you and the team encountered?
We discovered just how challenging it is to reach people through social media with all of the current algorithms in place. We have a relatively large social media presence and were hoping that because the response to the show had been so positive that the campaign would be shared by people through the videos we posted, the thank you graphics we shared, and the articles about the campaign. People are either reluctant to share the posts or they are not being reached.
Any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?
Make sure you plan everything in advance, including the people working on the campaign. You should have a calendar with projected video releases, announcements, extra incentives, and who will be responsible for what. Reach out to your immediate community before the campaign starts and explain that they are an essential part in bringing the goal to fruition, then check back in with them every week. The more people you have diligently working on the campaign the better it will do. There will always be conflicts or issues that will arise during the campaign, but trouble shooting is much easier than planning as you go.
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