Emerging Comic Development Contributor Mabuhay Gardens (CrowdDoing)

## About the initiative
Mabuhay Gardens is a storied cultural venue with a legendary history. The building has hosted performances by legends including Louis Armstrong, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Dead Kennedys, Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Specials, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Herbie Hancock, R.E.M., Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Soundgarden, Bad Religion, Dave Chappelle, and many others. Via CrowdDoing, we are regenerating the Mab as a hybrid cultural ecosystem: live music, dance, comedy, rentals, popup culinary lab, off-peak wellness partnerships, art-walk activations, and solarpunk / regenerative-culture programming.
Every comic who ever mattered passed through an inflection point — moving from open mic to features, releasing a first special, booking a first tour — often without anyone paying close attention at exactly the right moment. We're looking for someone who can identify comics at that inflection point and think seriously about how the Mab can matter to them at that stage.
## The puzzle
There's a genuinely fascinating puzzle in this role: spotting real growth in a comic's material before it's obvious to anyone else, which means learning to see past noise and hype to what's actually changing in someone's craft. The comics most worth paying attention to are rarely the loudest online — they're the ones whose sets are visibly sharpening, who are quietly graduating from guest spots to features, who are about to release something that will change how rooms see them. The puzzle is spotting that inflection before it's obvious to everyone else, and thinking like a steward of someone's career rather than someone trying to get something from them.
## What you'll do
You'll tend a defined slice of the emerging-comic development work — enough to surface real relationships in your first month, without carrying the whole venture.
- **Talent mapping** — Track comics moving through visible career inflection points: open mic to features, first hour specials, first headlining tours, breakout festival sets.
- **Trajectory research** — Study a comic's recent set history, credits, and public reception to understand where they actually are in their development, using AI-assisted research to synthesize scattered signals quickly.
- **Career-stage screening** — Distinguish comics genuinely at an inflection point from comics who are simply active online. Look for evidence of growth, not just visibility.
- **Social listening for collaboration moments** — Watch the social media accounts and public communications of emerging comics and adjacent comedy scenes to spot new material, milestones, and moments where a genuine introduction makes sense.
- **Thoughtful first messages** — Send warm, personal, well-researched notes that reflect real familiarity with a comic's specific material and trajectory, using AI-assisted drafting to keep each note specific. Frame the Mab as a room that takes their development seriously.
- **Stewardship conversations** — Run short async or video conversations to understand what stage-time, audience, or format would genuinely help a comic's next step — not just what fills a calendar slot.
- **Introduction to the producing team** — Bring well-vetted relationships to Mabuhay's producing team with a clear brief on career stage, recent trajectory, and what kind of set or slot would serve their development best.
## Who this role is for
We're looking for someone who can contribute meaningfully from week one — not a senior talent manager, not an assistant. Somebody with real, demonstrable skill in **at least two** of the following, and curiosity about the rest:
- Familiarity with the stand-up development pipeline — open mics, bringer shows, features, headliner tracks
- Talent scouting, artist development, or career coaching experience in any performing art
- A genuine eye for comedic craft and growth, not just popularity or follower counts
- Research skills — synthesizing scattered public information into a clear read on where someone stands
- Thoughtful written communication that respects a comic's time and instincts
- Comfort with AI-assisted research and relationship-writing workflows (any current LLM tool)
- Genuine curiosity about how comedic craft actually develops over time, rather than a goal-driven interest in discovering talent first
- Comfort watching social media, community feeds, and newsletters with a listening ear rather than a promotional one
You'll thrive here if you think about comics' careers the way a good scout thinks about athletes — with patience, pattern recognition, and genuine investment in their trajectory, not a transaction.
## Why do this
- **The problem matters.** Comics at real inflection points often get overlooked by rooms chasing whoever already has the biggest following. Paying attention at the right moment changes careers.
- **The stakes are real.** The comics you identify are making actual career decisions, at actual turning points, in actual rooms. This is not a case study.
- **The craft is subtle, and it will test your judgment about vulnerability.** You'll be stretched to tell real growth apart from noise, while building trust with someone at a genuinely vulnerable career stage — where getting it wrong has real human cost, not just a bad prediction. That combination of discernment and care is worth developing deliberately.
- **The room is legendary.** You're helping regenerate a venue where Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Dave Chappelle all performed, alongside generations of music and cultural experimentation.
- **You'll work alongside people who care, across a much wider map than this room.** You'll collaborate asynchronously with CrowdDoing's global network of volunteers — people working on deep green compute, herbal medicine, and disaster risk reduction — through shared written updates, shared docs, and async check-ins. You will likely never meet most of them in person, and you'll still learn from how they think. That cross-pollination between wildly different fields is not a side benefit of this role. It's the point.
## Time commitment & structure
- Flexible, part-time, mostly asynchronous
- Ongoing commitment, renewable
- Onboarding via CrowdDoing's standard volunteer orientation
## How to apply
Send a short note (5–8 sentences is plenty) covering:
1. Which 2–3 areas above you can contribute in immediately, with one specific example of past work (a comic whose trajectory you tracked well, a development pipeline you understand deeply, research you've done on emerging talent)
2. One comic at a genuine inflection point you'd want to flag for Mabuhay Gardens in your first month, and why their timing matters
3. Your available hours per week and time zone
No cover letter theater. Show us how you think and who you're watching.
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*CrowdDoing is an equal-opportunity volunteer organization. We welcome contributors of every background, geography, and career stage. This is an unpaid volunteer role and service-learning opportunity.*