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.

Playing Around With A Little Role Reversal

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Next Wednesday, I have the honor of serving as a guest lecturer for the UW-Madison’s Bolz Center for Arts Administration, Arts Administration Seminar; a core graduate seminar in their MBA in Arts Administration program. Although that’s a mouthful to say, what it means is that I’ll be leading a three hour class on a topic that fits into their curriculum. In this instance, I’m going to have the future arts administrators walk a mile in another man’s shoes…

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Final Survey Update

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I’m back from my business trip and while getting caught up on everything waiting here for me today, I thought I’d post a final report for the Applause & Pretentiousness survey. Since the last report, there have been an additional 52 responses…

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Lighten The Mood

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After reading the article in this morning’s Arts Journal music news about the former executive director of the Lafayette (IN) Symphony Orchestra that was arrested for alleged sexual misconduct charges involving a minor, I decided to put what I originally had planned for today on hold and post something of a lighter nature…

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