FIRST DRAFT is an ongoing performance series founded by Emily Barasch that showcases works-in-progress by Los Angeles–based artists. Grounded in community-building through artistic exchange, FIRST DRAFT is a low-tech, high- visibility creative laboratory for experimental performers and audiences in Los Angeles. Performance-making is often isolating, shaped by individualistic and extractive production models. FIRST DRAFT intervenes in this system, by activating shared resources, mutual support, and collective growth among local artists. The series positions performance as a collaborative practice, providing space for rigorous artistic research, advocating for more equitable models of development, and strengthening the Los Angeles performance ecosystem. Rather than centering a single choreographer, FIRST DRAFT places artists in dialogue in the context of a shared evening, fostering reciprocal artistic growth through shared feedback and collaboration.

First Draft has developed a sustained partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Arts Los Angeles (ICA LA) and is presented twice a year in conjunction with their Fall and Spring visual art exhibits. First Draft artists get access to 10 hours of rehearsal space at ICA LA, two studio visits with curator, Emily Barasch, a social gathering with fellow FD artists to meet and discuss their projects, a facilitated talk-back following the performance event, and video and photograph footage. First Draft aims to provide incubated research and development time for new performance projects to flourish while being in dialogue with other local artists, audiences, and community members.