Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
It isn’t as though this Inauguration Day isn’t filled with enough significance, but there’s an something special for performing arts orgs in the form of the several live-stream broadcasts that need to operate inside pandemic health and safety guidelines. The inauguration schedule is available at official event website, and was kicked off by an event last night that according to the website, operated as a Donate To Watch event. At the …
As a board member, it’s difficult to get an independent assessment of the institution and its strategic direction during periods of labor distress. There’s a natural inclination to look inward and draw strength from colleagues while not letting too many outside voices become a distraction. Having said that, you know things might be getting out of hand when a marquee level voice starts questioning your strategic wisdom. Case in point, Riccardo …
A recent post from Joe Patti examines a report from the Advisory Board for the Arts that found “while people may donate at a certain level to gain perks, taking away those perks won’t cause them to reduce their giving, by and large.” This is certainly good news for arts orgs in a post-COVID environment, but it also brings up some intriguing dynamic considerations that focus on generating the most revenue …
The American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-PEF) continues to scrape along. Back in March 2020 they managed to settle a suit filed against Trustees that alleged poor management and unnecessarily risky investment strategies. Both sides have claimed victory in the suit, and the reality is the AFM-EPF agreed to a $26.85 million settlement. According to Deadline.com, $17 million of that will be paid by the Plan’s fiduciary insurers. …
If you’ve ever been responsible for creating a concert program in Microsoft Word, you probably know how tricky it is to align everything in a way that conforms with traditional program layouts. The harder you try; the more elusive alignment becomes but you can’t figure out why. Here’s a tip to know when things start snowballing toward word processor hell: you’re using a lot of consecutive spaces. Fear not! There is …