#TBT You Want To Carry That On Board And Put It Where Again?

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If you’re an orchestra musician, the anxiety attached to flying with your instrument is all too familiar. Will they let you one with your instrument or not? Career roulette is fun! #not

If you’re an arts manager, you know the pain of that 11th hour call from your guest artist telling you the airline wouldn’t them on the plane without checking their instrument, so they won’t be there. #NowWhat?

There are no shortages of heart breaking anecdotes from musicians. As airlines cracked down on instruments as carry-on luggage little more each year, they had to stand by and watch with nothing more than slack-jawed incredulity as a flood of flyers with pets newly coined as emotional support animals (ESA) were welcomed aboard.

“Three million cello you say? You even bought a full fare ticket for it? F**k you, because we’re throwing it in the cargo hold. If you don’t like it, we can always call security.”

“Hey, your 250lbs pig has a cute ESA vest, welcome aboard!”

As it turns out, airlines may be coming around. This article from the 1/30/2018 edition of foxnews.com reports that airlines are beginning to crack down on passengers with emotional support animals.

Of course, this might mean some musicians who found creative ways to use the ESA craze to their advantage may have to find a new angle, which brings us to today’s #TBT article:

Hi, This Is My Emotional-Support Tarantula

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.

View all posts by Drew McManus | Website

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