March 2015 – Page 3 – Adaptistration

Audience Development Blues

Friday, June 29th, 2018Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 by Drew McManus

There’s an interesting article by Elizabeth Bloom in the 3/15/2015 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that reports on audience development woes at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO). In a nutshell, the PSO’s $100,000 study produced results that aren’t exactly earth shattering and the tiny focus groups of non-ticket buyers incorporated an equally myopic cross section of individuals; according to Bloom’s article, only 45 people were involved, all participants were ages 40 …

MN Patron Group Mute On Substitute Equal Pay For Equal Work Topic

Monday, March 16th, 2015 by Drew McManus

Last week’s pair of articles (part 1 and part 2) examining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) musicians’ decision to go public with concerns over artistic integrity in the wake of extended austerity measures produced an intriguing byproduct related to the topic of equal pay for equal work. On one hand, BSO president and CEO, Paul Meecham, proclaimed that the orchestra has managed to “attract high quality substitute players without any difficulty” …

Day Off

Friday, March 13th, 2015 by Drew McManus

It is rare to take a day off but today is a special exception thanks to spending an entire day building up to my wife, violinist Holly Mulcahy, performing Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. It was a fantastic performance with the orcheatra and music director Kayoko Dan rising to the challenge on such a demanding piece. Having Ms. Higdon in town all week to work with …

How Are You Celebrating Women’s History Month?

Thursday, March 12th, 2015 by Drew McManus

ArtsHacker Sarah Marczynski published an article yesterday drawing attention to March being Women’s History Month and how it impacts the fieldas a whole. It’s an excellent post and all things being equal, there will be a few additional entries at ArtsHacker on that topic. Marczynski’s post made me wonder what else is going on throughout the field as a whole for Women’s History Month so to that end, I’m curious to learn more. To …

A Gig Of Last Resort. Part 2

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 by Drew McManus

In Part 1, we discovered that there’s something not quite right at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) where frustration has given birth to disenfranchisement. The musicians feel the institution’s overall commitment to artistic integrity has slipped below acceptable levels whereas BSO president and CEO, Paul Meecham, feels that the group is making tremendous strides and is as competitive as ever for both salaried and substitute musicians. Ultimately, the only people in …