Year: 2020

More Data (And Good News) On Streaming Concert Activity

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The 10/26/2020 edition of the Seattle Times published an article by Melinda Bargreen that reports the Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS) is discovering their 2020 Virtual Summer Festival produced positive results. While SCMS doesn’t appear to have released any financial data, you can still see the results are encouraging: 389 new ticket purchasers which comprised 32 percent of all ticket sales. 92 first-time donors. Thanks to being free of max seat …

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Shop Talk S01E06: The Need For Expertise

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This episode’s topic is based on Jason’s blog post, The Most Teachable Era In Human History For The Necessity of Expertise. Questions of expertise are particularly relevant here an now when considering whether  the field has leaders with what we need for these unique challenges. But can that expertise be clearly defined? Do we know what we don’t need? Today’s guests are uniquely suited to this discussion because they have expertise …

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Not That You Need Another Reason To Vote

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Americans for the Arts recently released their 2020 Congressional Arts Report card, which provides a detailed summary of congressional voting records on key arts legislation. Another useful feature is an overview of which Senators and Representatives are active in cultural focused caucuses. One of the best reasons I’ve seen that reinforces why this report matters is from legislative culture warrior Scott Silberstein via his Arts Matters newsletter (subscribe). How officials treat …

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The Lyric Opera Of Chicago Fires the First Shot In A Labor War

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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 …

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#TBT UK Adds Injury To Insult For Artists Suffering Under COVID Job Losses

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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 …

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