We're kicking off our season of giving for the Countdown Improv Festival! Each year, over 150 improvisers converge on the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa in the heat of the summer for five days of performances, workshops, and community -- and, of course, bits -- to take part in this one-of-a-kind celebration of improv comedy.

But, Countdown is so much more than an improv festival: In 2025, it's a mission. The community we have cultivated around Countdown over the past nine years has elevated and legitimized this art form all over the country, and changed the game for what improv can be. Call it the "Countdown effect": Performers and attendees alike come to Countdown intrigued, and they leave it inspired -- to create and own their own work in their home communities and to spread joy to others, thus raising the bar not only for themselves, but for those at their home theaters, independent performance venues, and festivals. Countdown has helped hundreds of performing artists to find and hone their voices. Today, those voices and perspectives are needed now more than ever.

2025 will be the biggest and most ambitious year yet for the Countdown Improv Festival: the world's only improv comedy festival exclusively devoted to trio, duo, and solo performance. Produced by Countdown Arts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the festival will take place in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa from August 6-10, 2025. We need your support to help make it happen. 

From its humble beginnings in 2017, the Countdown Improv Festival has grown into one of the best, most acclaimed events of its kind. In 2025, we will build on our track record of success by, among other things, running shows on four separate stages at the HCC Ybor Performing Arts Building and The Commodore, introducing new audiences to our event, and expanding our programming to include performances and workshops for kids and veterans & active-duty military, and an expanded leadership summit. Your financial support is critical to our efforts to fully resource the festival and help continue to make it a destination for world-class improv comedy in Tampa Bay.

We've set a campaign goal of $6,000 , a sum that will help us offset costs associated with securing the venue, programming world-class shows and workshops, extending unparalleled hospitality to our instructors and performers, expanding our production team, and promoting the festival across the region.

This year's festival is generously supported by grants from Hillsborough County and the Gobioff Foundation, and an ever-expanding network of sponsors and partners. But, as our ambitions and impact have grown, so has our budget -- just in time for the available resources to shrink and, in some cases, completely evaporate. If there were ever an important year for us to deliver on our mission, 2025 is that year. That's where you come in.

Countdown Improv Festival co-founders and producers Kelly Buttermore and Justin Peters are the world’s foremost independent improv duo, and have performed, taught, and produced improvisational comedy together for over a decade. As the duo known as From Justin to Kelly, they have performed and taught hundreds upon hundreds of times in 29 different states, D.C., Canada, and international waters, and have headlined dozens of national improv festivals.