It’s an orchestra manager’s nightmare: when internal factions go to war over artistic issues and when it comes to a topic that’s sure to spark emotion in the office, it’s artistic control. Everyone wants to have dominant control over what’s performed and more often than not, front line managers get caught in the cross fire.
Month: October 2011
What A Week
It’s been an eventful week and much of the news covers everything from dark to light. So let’s see about getting caught up by starting on the east coast and work our way out west.
Just In Case You Thought They Were Bluffing
(UPDATE 3:18pm CT – agreement has been ratified) Details from the proposed, and confidential, master agreement between the Philadelphia Orchestra Association (POA) and their musicians are starting to leak to the surface. One of the items with the greatest impact for fallout is whether or not the POA remains in the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and Employers Pension Fund. According to statements coming from the latter, it doesn’t look like that’s the case.
The Latest Report From Captain Obvious
The 10/10/2011 edition of the Huffington Post published an article by Brett Zongker titled Arts Funding Is Supporting A Wealthy, White Audience: Report that focuses on a recent report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). The article is already making the usual social media rounds but it’s surprising to see it get so much traction when the findings are a) obvious and b) not terribly useful beyond misdirected garden variety class warfare.
Reader Feedback To Predatory Practices
A fascinating comment came in yesterday in response to the post from 9/22/2011 titled A Predatory Practice That Is Sucking This Field Dry. The reader, arts blogger and fellow TEDx Michigan Ave. presenter Gwydion Suilebhan, takes issue with some of the points in the article. And since Gwydion’s observations are so thought provoking, it seemed more appropriate to address them in a dedicated blog post as opposed to a comment reply.