Let’s Try This Again, This Time With Feeling

If you tried to get in on the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant online application process, the bad news is you probably got caught up in the same showstopper results as most organizations. The good news is the application portal will reopen today, Monday April 26 at 12 noon ET.

The Small Business Administration has been posting updates on their Twitter account (h/t Scott Silberstein’s Arts In Action newsletter). The initial problems added more than a little frustration among arts organizations (just read the replies on Twitter!) but getting in sooner than later is still the best alternative.

If it isn’t already on your calendar, set aside time today to give the application portal another try.

Learn more about the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program and how to apply: sba.gov/svogrant.

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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