Happy Sweet 16 Butts In The Seats!

It wouldn’t be February without congratulating Joe Patti for another terrific year of posts at Butts In The Seats; Musings on Practical Solutions For Arts Management. It is celebrating its 16th anniversary this week!

If that wasn’t enough, Joe is also a regular contributor at ArtsHacker.com where his posts are among the site’s most frequently visited and shared so if you aren’t already familiar with his work, stop by and set aside a meaningful amount of time to go through everything Butts In The Seats has to offer.

Not only is Joe one of the most consistently engaging culture bloggers around, he’s one of the most prolific. If his blog is new to you, here are some of my favorites from the past year:

If You Were Really Passionate You Would Let Me Exploit You

One Does Not Simply Walk Into The Met Opera Orchestra Pit

IMPORTANT: Changes To Music Licensing May Impact Any Performance At Your Venue

How Long Before You Can Only Participate If You Bring A Phone?

Accepting Donations Is Increasingly Complicated Business

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.

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