Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Six months ago, I wrote about a new online database that made it easier for anyone to discover women composers and their music. At the end of that article, I expressed my intentions: to create a similar database focusing on composers of color and “a potential transformation from the current shared spreadsheet to a more stable and intuitive website”. Six months later, I am happy to say that I and my …
I’m in Houston today for the 37th Annual Association of Arts Administration Educators Conference and am scheduled to give a presentation about building data-driven cultures on Saturday, June 2 from 10:30am – 12:00noon. This will actually be my first time in Houston and other than bracing for heat and humidity, I’m looking forward to learning more about the city and it’s culture scene first-hand. If you’re attending the conference, be sure to reach …
In response to yesterday’s post about the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) losing city funding due to a lack of diversity, I noticed some intriguing conversations across social media. One of the overriding themes was a sense that orchestras are genuinely trying as hard as they can to address diversity and that stated commitment should count for something. These points made me think about a post here …
There’s a wonderful article in the 5/25/2018 edition of Ludwig-van.com that serves as a sort of cautionary tale about the disconnect between what an organization says is important and its quantifiable actions on the matter. The article, by Michael Vincent, reports the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will see $100,000 CAD and $50,000 CAD respectfully cut from their Toronto city government funding. The decision to reduce their …
A number of readers have written in to ask about the deep dive into Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) new musician retirement plan and the process used for the migration. Thanks to some fortuitous scheduling, I’ll have the opportunity to sit down with some of the SSO’s stakeholders face to face for an interview. To take advantage of that benefit, it meant pushing the publication back a bit to accommodate the June …