Month: July 2020

Top-Tier Musician Compensation For 2020 Is Skipping A Season

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Each year, we take some time to examine base musician compensation levels at the top eight highest paying orchestras. But thanks to the impact COVID-19 is having on orchestra collective bargaining agreements (CBA), we’ll need to postpone this installment a year. Unlike executive, music director, and concertmaster figures examined in the annual compensation reports, these wages are determined years in advance by way of collective bargaining agreements. As a result, instead …

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Growing Discord In Indianapolis

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At the end of June, we examined growing labor tensions at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) over what the musicians described as unnecessarily aggressive negotiations over back pay, benefits, and media agreement terms. Since then, I managed to have a conversation with the ISO’s CEO James Johnson. Media Agreement According to a press statement from the musicians, the employer was pushing for changes to the existing media agreement in order to make good …

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2017/18 Season Is Now Available At The Orchestra 990 Download Library

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Today’s a good day because all the 2017-2018 season files have been processed and added to the  downloadable Orchestra 990s at the Adaptistration Store. This brings the total number of seasons up to 19. A big thank you to everyone who has already purchased copies and keep in mind, the more you buy, the less it costs thanks to automatic quantity discounts (no need to muck about with coupons or discount codes): purchase 2-5: …

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State Of Employment Poll & Review July 6 – July 12

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After collecting three full months of data, it’s clear that orchestra staffers and musicians continue to move toward higher ratios of under-employed and unemployed statuses. 35 percent of these stakeholders are some form of unemployed status or have unpaid cancellations. 50 percent indicated they are working, but at some form of underemployed status, while only 15 percent indicated being fully employed. Let’s take a deeper dive into how those numbers break …

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2020 Orchestra Compensation Reports: The Big Picture

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Each year, one of the most popular items in the orchestra compensation reports is a big picture overview of all compensation alongside Total Expenditure figures. If you’ve been looking for something that shows all the report values in a single chart, this is your article. Did you know? Direct links to most of the orchestra’s financial disclosure documents at guidestar.org are available in the Orchestra Financial Reports or you can save yourself dozens of …

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