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.

Adaptistration Goes On A Working Vacation

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I’ll be at the Grand Teton Music Festival the next 10 days on a pseudo vacation. Although life will be decidedly more laid back and filled with Teton oriented fun and games, there’s just too much work to take each and every day off. I’ll be getting ready for some of the projects going on over the summer; including preparing my presentation for the ICSOM conference (you’ll have to wait for …

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Using Good News The Wrong Way

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In a recent article of the Los Angeles Times by Christopher Reynolds, the increase in the number of tickets sold by the Los Angeles Philharmonic certainly paints the organization is a positive light. The article points out that over the past three years, the orchestra has increased the number of tickets it sells (181,457 in 2002-2003 season to 302,428 in the 2004-2005 season) along with expanding the number of performances it …

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Adaptistration Merchandise

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LinkedInCopyPrint

Browse. Buy. Enjoy.

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Orchestra Governance Essays

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Here’s a breakdown of who’s who in orchestra governance and how they fit together… I took some time recently to review the essays on orchestra governance, which examine the good, the bad, and the ugly issues related to those who have a hand in how orchestras function. They’re always available in the right hand navigation column under “Resources” and since Adaptistration launched nearly two years ago they have always been among …

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How GuideStar 3.0 Encourages Institutional Transparency

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Regular Adaptistration readers know how much I like GuideStar, the online service with a mission to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice with information. With regard to orchestras, GuideStar provides an invaluable service by making IRS Form 990’s available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. I use it so much, I keep a shortcut bookmark tab on the top of my web browser. On June 1st, 2005 GuideStar underwent …

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