Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
The latest entry in the round of COVID triggered labor disputes is from The Lyric Opera of Chicago. The organization released a 14:38 video that says it is intended for company members that features General Director, Anthony Freud, and Board Chair, Sylvia Neil. I say intended because it really seems designed more for donors and patrons as the duo spend the entire time talking about how bad of shape the organization …
The 10/12/2020 edition of The Guardian published an article by Lanre Bakare that examines a tone-deaf media campaign from the UK government pushing citizens toward careers in cybersecurity. The reason why is pretty straightforward: This isn’t the first time a career in the arts has been a punching bag for “real jobs.” Do you remember the Old Navy campaign promoting a series of children’s t-shirt they were selling that displays the …
Among the myriad of operations-oriented problems orchestras are facing are how to handle telephone connectivity for office staff that now work remotely. Sure, you can forward calls but there may be a much better option at your fingertips in the form of Google Voice. If your organization already has a G Suite for Nonprofits account, then you already have the infrastructure needed to roll out a phone solution that not only …
In a perfect world, musicians would have ample time to try a variety of face masks in order to find options that provide maximum safety and comfort. Having said that, things are far from perfect and the cost of buying a few dozen masks is an expense most musicians aren’t in a position to absorb. Consequently, it’s been fascinating watching musicians connect across social media to share experiences. For example, this …
At the end of last week, the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra (SSO) published a teaser video about their upcoming Music Uplink digital series. I managed to get a head’s up about the program when recording an upcoming Shop Talk episode with SSO music director Bruce Kiesling and Niccolo Go, Partner and Creative Director at Go Creative Group (the company that partnered with the SSO to create the series). They described the program …