Poll: Where Does Your Inspiration Come From?

Spoiler: it isn’t unusual for those working inside the orchestra or opera field to find cultural inspiration at anywhere but music-oriented organizations.

Adaptistration People 002Over the past five years, I’ve found myself drifting more towards non-orchestra/opera outlets to top off my internal cultural tank. And after a few particularly intriguing conversations, I’m curious to know what readers think.

As such I put together a little poll to see if one or more fields emerge as favorites.

Thanks in advance for limiting responses to those who make their living inside the orchestra or opera field, both on stage and off.

If there are more than a handful of “other” replies, I’ll be sure to post those as an update next week. Likewise, feel free to leave a comment.

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.

Related Posts