More On Louisville’s Resource Center

Since January of this year, we’ve examined the Louisville Orchestra’s idea to increase local demand by way of building a resource center. The first instance came via my real-time blogging from the American Orchestra Summit and later, Louisville Orchestra’s CEO, Rob Birman, provided much more detail as part of his 2010 Take A Friend To The Orchestra video. Last week, Louisville WFPL news’ (89.3FM) Elizabeth Kramer put together a report about the project and where it is headed…

If all of this is news to you, one of the most intriguing aspects of the Louisville Orchestra’s plan is although the resource center is certainly a capital project, it isn’t a concert hall project. Kramer describes the project as a facility that…

“…includes serving local music teachers, offering private teaching studios, instituting an instrument loan program, giving music appreciation classes, and creating a resource center with a library. And all this would feed into nurturing audiences for performances. Birman says no details are set, but one idea is to have all these services in a building called the Louisville Orchestra Symphony Center.”

You can read Kramer’s article here or listen to the broadcast segment below:

[audio:https://adaptistration.com/wp-content/uploads/20100519_Orchestra_Future.mp3|titles=20100519_Orchestra_Future]

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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