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.

TAFTO 2008 Contribution: Laurie Niles

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The word for today is "popular" and to help build
a frame of reference for its definition I want to point you toward
violinist.com. Without a doubt, Laurie Niles’ creation has been a smash hit
among casual violin enthusiasts and uber-geeks alike as a place they can talk
shop, it’s like a virtual violin convention that never closes. Along with violin
oriented blogs from more than a dozen U.S. violinists, the website boasts
regular bloggers from Australia, Canada, Germany, Iran, Japan, Netherlands, and
Turkey. Consequently, TAFTO 2008 is fortunate to have such an enterprising,
enthusiastic professional among its contributors as Laurie Niles.

 

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TAFTO 2008 Contribution: Matt Heller

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It just isn’t TAFTO without a contribution from a bassist and veteran blogger and Calgary Philharmonic bassist Matt Heller fills that billet in spades. In his contribution Matt ponders what sort of worst-case-scenario inviting a friend to one of his concerts could produce . The results are not only highly entertaining (Take a Friend – but not too good of a friend – To Orchestra) but they should alleviate any sort TAFTO induced anxiety for all those on the fence about inviting a friend to an orchestra concert.

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TAFTO 2008 Contribution: Carlos Kalmar

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What better way to start off the 2008 Take A Friend To Orchestra program than with a contribution from an individual who has experienced concert events across the globe. Carlos Kalmar’s contribution demonstrates that the mTafto2008authorgraphicka_2agic of live concert events occurs when “we all are unified in our thoughts and experience” and it is those experiences which ultimately reach beyond language and national boundaries to bring people together.

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On The Scene Reporting From Montreal

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No, I’m not at Montreal today to cover the CBC protests (although it would be nice to take at trip) but Adaptistration readers will get an on the scene report from one of the protest event organizers, Alexandra Fol. Alexandra. a Bulgarian-born composer who moved to Canada because of what she described as "its known commitment to concert music" is also the admin for the Save the CBC Radio Orchestra!
group at Facebook.com. I spoke with Alexandra  at 12:00 noon ET this afternoon  for a few minutes as the protesters were getting set up for their demonstration. Here’s  the audio from that conversation:

Barring any technical or weather related difficulties, you’ll find some photos and video from the event too. Regardless of the outcome, it will be as close to live coverage as we’re going to get…

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“Don’t let Canada become the wasteland that is the Americas”

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Today’s title is an excerpt from a reader comment protesting the decision by CBC Radio to disband the CBC Radio Orchestra after November, 2008. Although it’s heartening to read such a passionate reaction in response to eliminating a professional orchestra, I’m not certain if an appropriate response to the comment, as a citizen of the aforementioned wasteland, is "glad we could help" or "go to hell." Passionate rhetoric aside, the 4/1/2008 edition of CBCNews.ca published an article entitled Protesters demand CBC Radio Orchestra be saved which reports on a live demonstration by approximately 150 protesters demanding that CBC Radio rescind its decision to eliminate the CBC Radio Orchestra…

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