Friday Thoughts

If you haven’t done so already, this is your last opportunity to complete the 2009 Reader Segmentation Survey and be entered for a chance to win a free three month subscription to The Naxos Music Library – a $75.00 value. The data from completed surveys has been fascinating so far and I’m looking forward to sharing the results at the end of the month, click here to complete the survey. In other news, Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that executive director Tony Beadle will be leaving the organization at the end of August. Regular readers are certainly aware of last season’s events at the CSO and toward the beginning of next week, we’ll examine this latest event in greater detail. In the meantime, keep the family and loved ones of Flight 3407 in your thoughts today.

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.

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