Sick Day

Looks like the first cold of the season hit, thankfully it’s not terrible but enough of a pain I’m taking the day off blogging. Having said that I do want to point out that there are several new podcast shows and guests added to the production schedule.

Rounding out 2020 is a fabulous conversation with conversation with Kenji Bunch and Jenny Bilfield where we tackle the topic of Walking Back Artistic Elitism.

2021 guests include Jeff Curnow, Ceci Dadisman, Marc van Bree, David MacDonald, Sam Merciers, Christopher Blair, and more.

Check out the Shop Talk archives

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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