Meet Kyra Sims | Broadway Musician, Writer, and Co-Artistic Director of the New York Neo-Futurists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyra Sims and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyra, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Honestly I don’t think I’d be cut out for anything else. I crave variety and authentic connections, and it’s difficult to obtain both of those things in a traditional work environment. Also mornings are hard for me and I’m convinced I would be fired from any job that expected me to be present and functional at 9am every day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My professional journey has been a series of always trying to follow the joy. I was bullied out of my high school theatre department, but the band kids were always nice to me, so I found joy there even while struggling to sound halfway decent on the French horn. By the time I finished school, halfway decent turned into decent turned into pretty okay turned into regularly working as a professional french horn player. I’m grateful to my teachers along the way who gave me patience and grace and the tools to figure things out.

I now consider myself well within the ranks of the thousands of NYC multi-hyphenates: musician, actress, writer, arts administrator. Soon after completing my masters in French horn, I found my way back to the theatre, namely in a black box one, making experimental work as a New York Neo-Futurist, and two years ago I became Co-Artistic Director of the whole shebang. Every day in my life is different, and while no life is perfect, and some days still come with weight and strife, so many of my days are joyful, and for that I am so very grateful.

One of my deepest beliefs is that Art is a conversation. The Artist can exist, and so can the Audience, but the Art cannot exist without both parties. The exchange of ideas and reactions creates something of an alchemy, where the final product is something more than just the words, images, or notes that the Artist put together in an order that made sense to them. A lot of my art embraces this belief, and lately I’ve been really interested in audience agency. What does it mean for the audience to observe and perceive the art or the artist in front of them? Can we allow our audiences more freedom to react, to contribute, to alter?

My proudest achievement at this point in time is probably landing my first Broadway chair in the show Illinoise, a show I’ve been a part of since it was first workshopped at Bard College summer 2023. Being a part of this production has taught me so much about how friendship and mutual respect can lead to some of the greatest and most memorable art out there, and that the toxic environments I’d heard about occurring in the Broadway industry are completely unnecessary.

The artistic goal I’m most excited about currently is attempting to play my French horn on all seven continents- I only have two to go!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
What city? NYC? LA? lol

One time I was in LA for a gig with a high profile singer, and when she was making small talk with the band one day she asked us what we’d had for lunch. I shouted out, “Roscoe’s!”. Someone had recommended it to me and I thought it was great (not to mention most of the clientele there was also black, which for me is always a good sign for any kind of soul food establishment). The singer snarkily told me that no one who lives in LA actually goes there. Bewildered, I turned to a violinist next to me who was from LA, and she assured me that Roscoe’s was, indeed, good. “So why wouldn’t people go there??” I asked her incredulously. The incredulity haunts me to this day.

Now that I’ve been in NYC for 15 years I don’t have many visitors coming in who want me to “show them the town”. Usually we meet up for lunch or coffee or dinner, and I pick a spot I think they’ll enjoy. Last year a friend who makes their own dresses came up so obviously I took them to the Beetlejuice restaurant in the East Village. My oldest brother came up a few weeks ago with his girlfriend and I took them to an old school Irish bar in Inwood. People are unique, and the city is everchanging and overwhelming – the main advice I give to visitors is to schedule time to rest.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The New York Neo-Futurists have contributed so much to the person I am today. It was the first space where I felt truly heard and respected, and because the artistic medium of Neo-Futurism embraces chaos and mistakes, it’s done so much for my performance anxiety and made me a better musician.

Website: https://kyrasims.com

Instagram: @lilymishcief

Image Credits
1. Bret Lehne
2. Aleksandr Karjaka