Artist programs
OP Forward
OP Forward is our support for artists and their work after the lab: professional development, producing advice, industry partnerships, community, OPportunity Partnerships and production partnerships.
It’s built around each artist rather than a one-size-fits-all model, and it changes as artists’ needs change.
Shared knowledge
Guides and events on self-producing, marketing and managing money as an artist, starting with the performing arts and growing into the other forms we support.
Producer office hours
Time with OP’s producing team on venues, marketing, budgets, payroll, production management, relationships and dramaturgy, plus one-on-one mentorship.
OPportunity Partnerships
Fee-free fiscal sponsorship and hands-on producing support for projects moving into production.
Production partnerships
The Orchard Project partners with theatres and producers on projects ranging from dramaturgical support to multi-week developmental workshops of world-premiere musicals.
OP Forward opportunities are open to alumni of the Performance, Episodic, Audio and Greenhouse labs. Fiscal sponsorship is available only to past artists of The Orchard Project who are in good standing.
OPportunity Partnerships
From promising to production
Under the umbrella of OP Forward, our reimagined program is geared specifically toward our alumni and the projects that are important to them.
Seeded by a major grant from the Venturous Theater Fund, OPportunity Partnerships helps Orchard Project alumni move their work from development to production.
What OPportunity Partnerships offers
- Fee-free fiscal sponsorship: 100% of funds raised, minus transaction fees, go to your project.
- Producing support: budgeting, fundraising, payroll and contracting, festival and touring logistics, union and legal guidance, production management, and marketing.
- A learning cohort on producing, fundraising, venues and festivals, and planning.
- Credit for OPportunity Partnerships on all supported productions.
Two ways to work together
Supported by OPportunity Partnerships. OP is your fee-free fiscal sponsor and you keep producing control. Good for projects with their own team, raising money for a specific run or festival.
Produced in Association with OPportunity Partnerships. Your project becomes an OP program for the run, and OP handles compliance, payroll and finances alongside you. This model may emerge in conversation with OP staff when a project would benefit from a closer producing partnership.
Who it's for
Are you a lead artist for a project that already has a budget and timeline and could use a familiar and welcoming space to house current and future financial contributions? Our fee-free “Model C” fiscal sponsorship program might be right for you.
Bold, form-pushing projects with a clear path to production, at a moment when support will change their trajectory. Work can be produced anywhere a US nonprofit can support it: Off-Broadway, regional theaters, Edinburgh and other festivals, independent venues. Commercial runs such as the West End generally aren’t eligible.Submitting
OP Production Partnerships
Partnership Projects
The Orchard Project partners with countless outside theatres and producers to support work both large and small, supporting dramaturgy with teams to large-scale, multi-week developmental workshops of world-premiere musicals.
Through this initiative, on-mission development work becomes a collaboration between The Orchard Project and the partner, each bringing their own resources. Participating projects also benefit from the administrative, logistical and producing support of our staff.
Last season, we supported developmental workshops of Basura, Begin Again, Kill the Whale and Dust and Shadow. Two have already had their world premieres, and a third premieres this season.
Projects are selected based on their alignment with The Orchard Project’s guiding principles.
For more information or to explore a potential partnership, please contact Karina Fox at karina@orchardproject.com.