I can’t think of a more appropriate way to mark Labor Day than to post a reminder about last Friday’s 11th hour agreement between the San Antonio Symphony Society and their musicians on a new collective bargaining agreement. Details behind the agreement were issued in a press release from the musicians (still no official word from management) and the musicians are meeting this morning to conduct a meeting where their negotiating committee will officially present the contract to the musicians for ratification vote (keep in mind boards often ratify agreements as a pro-forma matter).
About Drew McManus "I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.
I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.
In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.
For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.
View all posts by Drew McManus | Website
Related Posts
The 5/21/2016 edition of TechCrunch published an article by Devin Coldewy that reports on a speech given by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) about the…
Although there will likely be no shortage of post-election bear traps springing up for the field, one area worth keeping a close eye on…
It never hurts to brush up on labor relations which is why I wanted to point over to a post here from 3/22/2012 titled…