Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Sometimes Silver Linings Are Cathartic

Thu, Apr 4, 2020
by Drew McManus
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At this point, I am happy to take whatever silver linings I can find and when it comes to coronavirus shutdown silver linings, we’re all starting to see how much employees can accomplish through working remotely.

We touched on this topic several weeks ago just as shutdowns were starting to roll out.

Ready Or Not, Nonprofit Arts Orgs Need To Start Thinking About Working From Home Options

As it turns out, working remotely hasn’t been the calamitous event hard liners have feared.

Sure, there’s plenty of room to refine and improve if the field wants to take this seriously. But if you’re in an org with executive leadership firmly entrenched in the anti-remote work camp, then you’re going to have a cathartic laugh at this little Gem from @ArtsAdminSay…just resist the temptation to share and tag your exec.

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.

View all posts by Drew McManus | Website

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Adaptistration by Drew McManus LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://adaptistration.com/about/terms-of-use-and-permissions/.

PROFESSIONAL DISCLOSURE

Given the author’s position as an arts consultant and technology provider, he does not publish articles examining or focusing on current clients without first obtaining the client’s written permission.

EDITORIAL COMMITMENT

In order to ensure accuracy and provide a comprehensive perspective on any topic, I allow any individual or person officially representing an organization that appears in any Adaptistration article to submit a response which will be published, unedited. Responses are limited to 200 words and must address the issues at hand and the individuals and/or organizations must also be willing to maintain an open dialog for continued discussion.