Preparing For The 2022 Orchestra Compensation Reports

Typically, the annual Orchestra Compensation Reports are released toward the first half of June but they may be a few weeks later due to my usual assistant, who does an amazing job with the critical task of processing each orchestra’s filing, being unavailable due to health reasons.

As such, it will take a little longer than usual to get everything processed.

It’s worth taking this time to point out that this year’s report will cover the 2019/2020 season, the first to be impacted by the pandemic. In and of itself, that will be enough reason to spend a bit more time combing through the filings with care.

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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