let's produce a mini dance party!

My name is Luke "Skippy" Harbur. I'm a creative producer and entertainer based in Kansas City, Missouri. In November 2021, I quit my full-time job as a communications strategist to do freelance work in multimedia and entertainment through the end of 2022.

On Friday, February 18th, 2022, I released my first full-length album called my dying wish, garnering over 2,000 digital song streams in just over seven weeks. On Thursday, April 7th and Friday, April 8th, I executive produced the album release show experience, hosted by Kansas City entertainment company Quixotic. The two-day show run sold over 120 tickets and employed more than 12 crew members. Local media outlets that picked this album and show include In Kansas City Magazine, the 901 KKFI radio station, and The Pitch Magazine.

About 45 days later, I executive produced another original live show experience hosted by Kansas City venue, Westport Bowery. Ope! A Play & Cabaret is a two-part show: Act 1 is an original one-act play about four friends in the Midwest, and Act 2 is a musical theater cabaret. The three-day show run sold 95 tickets, employing three cast members and two crew members. Our goal was to sell 100 tickets. A win in our books!

On Friday, June 17th, 2022, I released my second full-length album called we press play, garnering over 4,000 digital song streams in just over seven weeks. On Saturday, July 30th, I executive produced the album release show experience, hosted by Kansas City music venue recordBar. The one-night-only show sold 76 tickets and employed seven total cast and crew members.

Saturday's show was recorded with multiple cameras. What you see is the mini version of the album experience and dance party, viewable for everyone made possible by GoFundMe supporters!

Why $725?

In American capitalism, a common business narrative is making the most money by spending the least amount possible. For any show I produce, I try my best to be as transparent and helpful as possible to the team helping create the show itself. That came through paying a minimum of $20 per labor hour to folks on the cast and crew. Expenses include, but we’re not limited to: show props, stipends for cast and crew members, and show flyers.

Income streams included ticket sales and two sponsorships. As I value the cast and crew for their time and talents, I would like to do the same for my expertise in videography. I plan on sharing five unreleased songs I played in the show, valuing each performance video at $150 each. However, I specified $725 versus $750 because this show was also my birthday party! I was born July 25th, 1995, referencing 7/25.

My last two GoFundMes helped me produce a mini version of my first album release show and a mini cabaret. See below for the mini version of both shows.

I am releasing one more album titled you can sing, to be released in November 2022. If I can hit my fundraising goal before the end of August, this will be my final GoFundMe of the year, and I will gift a mini version of that show for free.

More about the album

After releasing my first album in February 2022, I knew my second album had to be drastically different to make a statement that musicbyskippy is about selling experiences, not a single music genre. That's how we press play came to be: these compositions came with dance clubs and movement as a top priority. As electronic dance music continues its mainstream climb in popularity, this album received double the number of plays in the same amount of time as my first album.

More about the show

Conversations about the album release show officially started with recordBar's Booking Manager, Steve Tulipana, in late 2021. Tickets were released a couple of weeks ahead of the album (Friday, May 27th, 2022), giving me two months to advertise the show to a contact list of 500+ people. It was the first time I had partnered with a venue to monitor ticket sales, the first time I offered an early bird ticket option, and the first time I involved other artists in performing alongside my music. The venue and the cast members did a spectacular job.

Lastly, I always love sharing lessons learned from productions to improve future projects. I hope you take something away that's of use to you!

In 2023, I know this show and others I had the chance to produce will be making their come back. 2022 is the groundwork year to launch 2023's success, and I hope this mini dance party will allow you to learn something new and experience songs you love!