You Just Can’t Beat A Personal Connection

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer caught my attention; it examines the use of visual imagery during orchestra concerts.  The article’s writer, David Patrick Stearns, does a good job with the piece but I think the industry is missing a fundamental fact about the best way to connect to a new audience. All of the visualizations in the world won’t bring people into concert halls in any great numbers.  At …

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How Vs. Why

How important is process an organization uses to achieve a goal? I’ve been putting some extra thought into this question lately because an increasing number of nonprofit organizations have been doing one of two things: improving the internal relationship between constituents via an inclusive shared process or damaging those relationships with a faulty process.

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Interlochen’s Thanksgiving Week Massacre

There’s an article in the Traverse City Record Eagle by Tom Carr today that reports that the Interlochen Center for the Arts (ICA) has undertaken a “Thanksgiving week massacre” and:

” mailed pink slips to 37 summer camp instructors, some of whom taught there for decades.”

When asked why they decided to terminate so many contracts, the article quotes ICA president Jeff Kimpton as saying…

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Video Game Outreach

At Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, one of our guests brought an unusual party game with them.  It’s a video game for a PlayStation 2 called Taiko Drum Master (fortunately our guest also brought the PlayStation 2 console with them).  I have to say that the game was immensely entertaining to watch and could be very challenging to play. It’s a very simple concept; you have to tap a given rhythm along with a …

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Giving Thanks

I received this email yesterday and think it’s the perfect blog for today: Dear Mr. McManus, I discovered your blog four months ago and have enjoyed following many of the articles, it has been most interesting to see the progress of various stories over that time.  What is troubling is the frequency of so many symphonies making so many poor choices.  As a professional trumpet player in an ICSOM ensemble, I …

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