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.

Shop Talk S01E01: Reaching Diverse Audiences Through The Marcom Lens

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Shop Talk is officially up and running and our very first episode for Season 1 focuses on meaningful ways to reach diverse audiences. This episode’s guests include Ann Marie Sorrell, President/CEO at The Mosaic Group, a Full Service Public Relations, Marketing, Events Management, and Government Relations Firm; and Ceci Dadisman, an arts marketer with more than 15 years in the field working with organizations of all sizes and disciplines. We took …

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State Of Employment Poll & Review August 17 – 23

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  Weekly Report Responses from Administrators indicate the shift from furlough to laid off status has plateaued, which is a good indication that any furloughs set into motion at the onset of the shutdowns have either returned to work or converted to a laid off/terminated status. Beyond that, the overall ratios of employment status were mostly unchanged Salaried musicians maintained saw a small uptick in status at both ends of the employment …

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Those Soft Landings Are A Sharp Double Edged Sword In Disguise

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Joe Patti published a fascinating piece based on something from Vu Le about the notion of soft landings for executive leaders. While I read Le’s post when it came, but I didn’t consider writing anything about it until seeing it through Patti’s lens. In a nutshell, the “soft landing” concept here applies to the way conservatives (yes, in the political sense) approach caring for executive leaders. Le provides a pretty succinct …

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It’s Time To Get Political

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Now that the national election appears to be on in earnest, it’s time for arts advocacy groups and arts supporters to begin holding elected officials accountable for their position on the arts and arts funding. It’s no secret where the current administration stands on the arts: with its figurative shoe planted on its throat. Consequently, that choice should be self-evident. But there are plenty of other political races to watch, such …

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Thinking About Dynamic Consequences

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About a year ago, I wrote a post about the trend of stuffing an increasing amount of duties and responsibilities into single positions. Spoiler: expectations, job advancement, job satisfaction, wages and benefits, and responsibilities are combining to create a particularly caustic work environment that burns out too many good managers. Since then, COVID-19 staff cuts have only exacerbated this trend. Every piece of distressing news about job cuts means remaining workers …

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