From its humble beginnings in 2017, the Countdown Improv Festival has grown into one of the best, most acclaimed events of its kind anywhere in the world. On this Giving Tuesday, we're asking for your support to make our 2024 event our most ambitious and successful one yet.
Produced by Countdown Arts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the festival will take place in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa from August 7-10, 2024. This year's festival has a budget of a whopping $85,000 -- an increase of 40% over our 2023 event. As we say every year, "you can't grow unless you choose to grow," and we've chosen to grow in every area over the past eight years, in no small part due to the support of donors like you. We need your support to help make our 2024 festival truly spectacular.
Next year, we will build on our track record of success by, among other things, running shows on three separate stages at the HCC Ybor Performing Arts Building, introducing new audiences to our event, and expanding our programming for kids, teens, and families. 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 an end-of-year fundraising goal of $1,000 , 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. We hope you'll consider including Countdown Arts, Inc. in your 2023 end-of-year giving.
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.
In early 2017, they mobilized the firsthand experiences -- both positive and negative -- that they had gained by participating in other festivals to found the Countdown Improv Festival, the world’s first and only improv festival devoted exclusively to small-group improv. Their mission was to foster a professional, supportive, welcoming, community-focused event where all participants felt equally valued and appreciated. The festival, now in its eighth year, has quickly become the most anticipated event of the year for trio, duo, and solo improv across the nation.
From our performers:
I've been doing this for 20 years and I've been to well over 100+ festivals and Countdown is without a doubt in my top five festivals, full stop. From top to bottom, from the organization to management to staff to performers to venue to crowds to vibes, I have rarely felt taken more care of as a performer and as a teacher. This festival is a treasure. Take care of it. – Brian James O'Connell, Los Angeles, Calif.
There are many improv festivals...but none like Countdown. The care and attention they give to every detail of the experience is unparalleled - for performers, students, and audience members alike. It's a place where I feel fully supported to present not only sets and formats that have been successfully developed elsewhere, but also original formats developed specifically for this festival. It's rare to find a performing environment where we can push the envelope and find out just how far improv can go. The caliber of performances and workshops is consistently high, and the curation of varied styles is utterly delightful. – Jen Lavenhar, Schenectady, New York
Every year we go to The Countdown Improv Fest we only have one regret. That regret is that it's only once a year. Justin and Kelly put on the best festival in the world. Nobody takes care of the performers better. – Patrick Newson, Chicago, Ill.
