The Nationaal Jeugd Musical Theater (NJMT) was one of the first Finders to receive funding through FindNFund. In 2022, the NJMT participated in the FindNFund pilot, then still in beta version, to find funding for their touring production Robin Hood. How did that turn out? Read it here.
About the NJMT
'I come from the performing world myself and studied at the conservatory. I worked as a singer and musical actress, but since I started working with young people, I'm converted. Their passion and professionalism give me so much energy. It's incredible what talent these children and young people have.' Britt van Schie enthusiastically talks about her work at the Nationaal Jeugd Musical Theater (NJMT), where she is executive producer.
The NJMT is a musical school for children. The school gives dance and musical lessons, prepares children for a professional career in the musical profession and also produces professional musicals that tour the country. Partly thanks to funding that came about through FindNFund, the musical Robin Hood premiered in January of this year, and has played 30 performances in various theaters throughout the Netherlands.
'The plan to start our own musical tour had been there for a while, building a musical from scratch takes at least a year. So we started writing, casting and producing back in 2021. Previously we worked with an external producer, but we recently decided to take the reins ourselves again. This gives us more freedom, but it's a lot of extra work. Costumes, set, hair and makeup, rehearsing, script writing, casting, we do everything ourselves. And of course arranging the financing. We get a large part through ticket sales but unfortunately that wasn't enough in this case.
FindNFund
'We felt we were quite late in arranging funding. We don't receive subsidies, do everything on our own and don't really have experience with fundraising. However, writing the show and booking theaters happens well over a year in advance and we had incurred many costs for this. So we could make a good estimate of how much extra we needed to not end up in the red. FindNFund came just in time! We participated in the pilot in 2022, and during the speed dating we met a Funder. That clicked right away. We really got to know each other and that was pleasant. It's of course important that a Funder has something with culture and youth.'
“The FindNFund platform also works very nicely. I have applied for other subsidies before, but FindNFund makes it a lot easier to submit applications, especially if you have no experience with the profession.”
Impact of the project
'The Robin Hood tour was a very special project and brought so much for the children. They don't often get the chance to be professionally engaged with something they really enjoy. Normally we hold performances on a small scale, for friends and family, now they really got the responsibility to be there every week. They had to build the set themselves and play a different role if someone was sick. They loved it, they were so passionate, it was really beautiful to see. It definitely had a positive impact on all the children who participated.'
Looking to the future
'I would definitely recommend FindNFund for organizations and people without experience with fundraising. The platform really guides itself and therefore the threshold becomes less high. You don't need subsidy applicants or fundraisers when you work with FindNFund, and it's accessible to everyone.
Currently we are working on a new tour again, Snow White, which will tour from October 2024. 'As soon as the bookings are finalized, we start writing and see how much cast we need. Then we will certainly look again through FindNFund how we can submit an application.'
