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 Contribution – Lisa Hirsch

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Although she claims to be a technical writer, self described opera geek Lisa Hirsch’s writing reads like anything but dry, technical, stereo instructions.  Instead, her blog, The Iron Tongue of Midnight (I like it when people use some of the more obscure quotes from Shakespeare) is a veritable clearinghouse of fantastic ideas and discussions on a variety of culture concerns.

Lisa’s TAFTO contribution is also one of the most unique and well thought out pieces yet.  I’ll add some of my own thoughts to her superb point of view; but first, enjoy her contribution.

 

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TAFTO Contribution – Bill Eddins

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Conductor and pianist William (Bill) Eddins has been a really popular guy this past year. Most notably, he was appointed as the music director for the Edmonton Symphony and as such has been the focus of dozens of newspaper articles worldwide and oh yes, he’s also the principal guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (not to mention the co-author of teh blog, Sticks and Drones)…

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TAFTO Contribution Drew McManus On WNYC

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The good folks at WNYC’s Soundcheck came up with a great idea for participating in Take a Friend to Orchestra month.  From their website today: May is “Take a Friend to Orchestra Month,” a new initiative started by Drew McManus, author of the blog “Adaptistration” at Artsjournal.com, in order to bring newcomers to the concert hall. In the spirit of the month, Drew has taken host John Schaefer’s brother Jerry to …

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Off To Carnegie For My TAFTO Experience

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I’m off to Carnegie Hall where I’ll be meeting up with some new friends who will be experiencing their fist classical music concert.  Along for the experience is Brian Wise, WNYC’s Soundcheck producer, and the group will be listening to an all Bartok concert performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will be led by Pierre Boulez and will feature CSO music director, Daniel Barenboim on piano performing Bartok’s Piano …

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TAFTO Contribution – Frank Manheim

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I consider myself fortunate to come across individuals like Frank Manheim during my lifetime.  Frank is the benchmark for a “knowledgeable nonprofessional classical music activist”.  His passion for the art moves him well beyond pontification into that realm of activism.

His personal research and effort into a variety of endeavors to benefit classical music in a number of mediums are simply too numerous to mention.  Frank’s contribution recounts a lifetime of personal experience and is filled with so much good material you’ll need to read it through a few times just to absorb everything.

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