Following Up On The Free BringLight.com Project

Congratulations to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra (ASO), whose application was selected for the free fundraising project at BringLight.com. With a goal of providing 10 sets of rhythm instruments for their Musicians Activating Growth In Classrooms (MAGIC) program, a course designed to provide music education for students that have no full-time music teacher, the ASO officially launched their fundraising program on Monday, 1/4/2010…

Read more

Cleveland And Seattle: With Bated Breath

As the orchestra business watches Cleveland and Seattle with bated breath, it is difficult to wonder if events at these two larger budget organizations will have any impact on the business as a whole. And it isn’t just insiders who are paying attention, music critics, cultural reporters, bloggers, and just about any other stakeholder with a social media account is wondering aloud how events will unfold…

Read more

Appearing At The American Orchestras Summit

From January 26-28, 2010 the University of Michigan is hosting an American Orchestras Summit. Titled Enlarging the Circle: Creating Partnerships in Research and Performance, the organizers describe their goals as “bring[ing] together arts presenters, orchestra leaders, and academics to explore potential partnerships and strategies for confronting the many challenges that face the American orchestra today.” I’ll be participating as a panelist on the 1/27/2010 11:40 a.m. session, Thinking Outside the Box: Organizational Structures and Strategies

Read more

Change Is Good

Regular readers have likely already noticed Adaptistration’s new look. I’ve been anxious to experiment with a grunge theme for awhile and the start of a new year seemed like a good time. But Adaptistration isn’t the only blog at Inside The Arts sporting fresh graphics, Sticks and Drones has a sporty new look and the Inside The Arts homepage features a retro makeover. Tomorrow, Scanning The Dial will join in on the fun with an updated appearance as well as a new co-author…

Read more

Here’s To A Strong 2010

By and large, 2009 was a tough year for the field and although some groups will continue to stumble in the weeds, others are making progress on finding institutional balance while several are well on the way to stabilization. For example, the Charlotte Symphony released a statement on 12/31/09 announcing a new program to build annual operating revenue following the successful completion of an ambitious bridge fund campaign. Conversely, news out of Cleveland via Zachary Lewis at The Plain Dealer reports on brewing labor issues…

Read more