Month: May 2020

Rounding Out The Week With A Little More Positive News

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Just in case you needed another reason to remember why we shouldn’t let early thinking on COVID-19 topics be the final word when it comes to planning future activity, Barron’s published an article about experiments commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic that indicate orchestra musicians “faced no added risk of transmitting the novel coronavirus when performing.” While this shouldn’t be the final word on how orchestra navigate the waters of safely returning …

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Let’s Science the Sh*t Out Of Social Distancing Ticket Revenue

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There’s a fascinating article (h/t Rainer Glaap) at ActivityStream.com that examines very positive results from efforts to science our way through maximizing revenue during live events if halls reopen with social distancing regulations in effect. It’s a positive step in the direction we examined from 5/6/2020 in that Activity Stream’s work includes maximum effort analysis to begin calculating optimum seating configurations for sales of single and group adjacent seating. They take …

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Do You Really Want To Play “Sophie’s Choice” With Your Subscribers?

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I wanted to follow-up on one specific topic introduced in the sfcv.org article referenced in yesterday’s post in the form of forcing subscription renewals to choose or lose. If you have yet to read that article, it examines how arts organizations are navigating COVID-19 challenges. Here’s the broader context for the choose or lose subscription sales strategy: Orchestras are also facing the issue of whether, at this point to continue to …

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It’s Time To Leave Panic Mode Behind

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There’s no shortage of panic inducing discussions and news floating around. Big budget groups like the Guthrie Theater and The Met have announced or are telegraphing the punch of prolonged closures that gut most of the 20/21 season. If that weren’t enough, the timing of service organization annual conferences happened to fall right when we’re still only beginning to learn more about coronavirus. Early studies projected an apocalyptic future and those …

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State Of Employment Poll & Review May 18 – 24

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The past few weeks of our weekly employment status polls, which track both orchestra administrators and musicians, have generated some intriguing trends and this week was no exception. Weekly Report For whatever reason, the overall number of replies from all three stakeholder groups increased this week, especially from respondents identifying as an administrator. Administrators continued their trend toward a larger ratio working reduced hours/pay and those who are laid off or furloughed. …

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