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Joel Kirk doesn’t have an MBA or what you would consider to be a traditional business background. But he is every inch an entrepreneur and promoter, and he cut his teeth in one of the toughest markets in the world: New York City. And he has persuaded some of the most experienced philanthropists in central Indiana to back his venture that makes Indiana a conduit for one of New York City’s most famous products: Broadway-style musicals.
A native of Carmel, Kirk is the founder and CEO of Discovering Broadway, which brings musicals that are still in the developmental stage to central Indiana so the creative teams can work in relative peace and then stage their work here with a combination of local and national talent. For example, the creative team behind the musical version of “The Devil Wears Prada” rewrote most of the show’s script and created several new songs over the course of about a week in Carmel back in 2021.
In this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast, Kirk discusses his own incubation period in Carmel and then at Ball State University before moving to New York at the age of 20 and starting a career as a theater director. He also tells the origin story of Discovering Broadway and explains how this one-man show—at least until recently—persuaded producers and creators with international reputations to make central Indiana their workshop.
Click here to find the IBJ Podcast each Monday. You can also subscribe at iTunes, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify and anyplace you find podcasts.
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Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ’s The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana’s business community.
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Local funding for the arts is limited to say the least and multiple local theaters in Indy are struggling to stay afloat. I would love more funding and focus on existing Indianapolis theaters and the local theater community as opposed to projects primarily benefiting folks just passing through.