Adaptistration Turns 18

Today marks Adaptistration’s 18th anniversary. Each year brings something new, wonderful, and unique…even during the pandemic. Typically, I post something with highlights from the last year’s content along with some geeky analysis. But as I was going through the data it just dawned on me that, for whatever reason, I didn’t post an anniversary article last year.

That lack of a deep dive meant I have two years of metrics to review, most of which occurred over the pandemic. As such, I want to spend an additional day pouring through things because even the initial look is producing some unusual insights.

Stay tuned. In the meantime, I’m going to go make myself a cocktail.

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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