2019 – Page 25 – Adaptistration

The Problem With Nonprofit Arts Admin Pay

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019 by Drew McManus

There’s an excellent article in the 6/12/2019 edition of fastcampny.com by Ben Paynter that examines two recent studies on nonprofit staff compensation. Spoiler alert: both studies uncovered ample evidence that compensation is a strong pain point among most employees. Compensation is a regular topic here at Adaptistration and back in 2016, we conducted a survey of orchestra and opera staffers and managers to help determine the how and why behind orchestra …

Things Get Weird In Baltimore

Monday, July 1st, 2019Monday, July 1st, 2019 by Drew McManus

When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) initiated a lockout of musician employees in June 2019, they also announced health care benefits would be cancelled at the end of the month. Not even two weeks later, the BSO’s executive leadership announced that while they intend to maintain the lockout throughout the course of the summer, they are rescinding their decision to cancel health insurance. In an article from 6/25/2019, we examined the …

A Question Of Systemic Debt In Baltimore

Friday, June 28th, 2019 by Drew McManus

There’s a fascinating article in the 6/25/2019 edition of The Baltimore Sun by Mary Carole McCauley that begins to draw lines supporters use to align themselves with one stakeholder or another in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) ongoing lockout. Specifically, the article examines the recent spike of annual debt over the last 19 months and the impact it has on day-to-day cash flow. The [BSO] owed its vendors $2.1 million as …

Who Wants Free Website User Testing Templates?

Thursday, June 27th, 2019 by Drew McManus

One of the biggest challenges for small to mid size budget organizations is properly testing new website designs before going live. It’s no wonder why this is such a challenge; implemented properly, the process should include live and remote user testing utilizing one of several tools made expressly for those purposes. But the reality is that process requires time and adds costs that many arts organizations simply can’t accommodate in their …

An Old Blog Gets A New Look

Wednesday, June 26th, 2019 by Drew McManus

There’s nothing quite like doing a good thing for the right reasons and to that end, I’m very happy to introduce the latest design update for one of Inside The Arts’ longest running and popular blogs: Butts In The Seats. In addition to a brand new logo, there’s new typography and an accessibility compliant color scheme, all of which helps deliver some of the very best culture blog content available. Case …