Month: July 2016

Is It Possible To Manage A Large Budget Orchestra Using Mostly Consultants?

by
Adaptistration Biz Guys

It certainly isn’t unheard of for larger budget orchestras to hire consultants for everything from temporarily filling staff holes to serving as the architect for marketing or development campaigns but relying on third party providers for the majority of admin functionality is decidedly not the norm. Nonetheless, that’s where the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is headed so if you’ve ever been curious about how that might work out, you may have …

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When Was The Last Time You Saw A Genuinely Impressive Video Promo?

by
Adaptistration People 154

Norman Lebrecht posted an item at Slippedisc.com yesterday poking fun at what he calls “the worst-ever orchestra promo video” and I have to agree, it’s entirely uninspiring. But Lebrecht’s post got me thinking about video promos in general and I found it difficult to think of anything that really caught my attention over the past few years. There is no shortage of promos with excellent production quality but they tend to …

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Why Yes, You SHOULD Care About Military Bands

by
Adaptistration Guy 005

The 7/11/2016 edition of NonprofitQuarterly.org published an article by Sophie Lewis (h/t Joe Patti) that examines the value military bands add to the national cultural scene and why you should care that some in congress are attempting to all but eliminate funding for the entire program. Lewis’ article joins another exemplary piece of writing from Dave Philipps in the 7/1/2016 edition of the New York Times. In that article, the author …

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Compensation Continues To Encourage Conversation

by
Adaptistration People 193

Toward the end of last week, a pair of articles triggered by this year’s Orchestra Compensation Reports emerged at two traditional media outlets: The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Houston Chronicle. Both articles approached the topic by comparing national trends to what was going on at their local orchestra. What was especially wonderful to see is that both authors spent a portion of the articles examining why nonprofit organizations are required to …

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Better Do It “Right”

by
Adaptistration People 008

“Santa Claus is real,” “taxes are not optional,” and “arts managers are always allowed to do the right thing.” Sorry to be the one to break the news to you but only one of those items is true (spoiler alert: it’s the middle one). I don’t have any advice to offer about Santa that may soften those emotional scars but the last item has a good bit of gray inside the …

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