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.

A Note To The MET Just Relax

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A few days ago Norm Lebrecht published a piece about how he was hired by the MET to provide commentary for their UK and European broadcasts but then fired shortly thereafter before ever working on a single broadcast. According to his article Norm claims that one of his BBC executives said the MET decided to withdraw their offer because Norm wrote something about the search process behind the MET’s new executive …

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An Unorthodox Method For Supporting Your Orchestra

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A member of the Toledo Symphony recently forwarded a link to a political cartoon which appeared in the Toledo Blade that does a wonderful job at highlighting the impact of sacrifices which players sometimes make.  It’s well worth your time to go take a look.

Battle Royale

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The competition between traditional Nutcracker performances and the radio city Christmas Spectacular continues this season.  I published an article at The Partial Observer today which examines how this struggle could have positive or negative outcomes for the entire nonprofit performing arts community. The added competition may force the industry into some positive change, even if they have to come kick-step-step-kicking and screaming.

In Case You Missed It

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There was a wonderful letter to the editor published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press written by Minnesota orchestra violist Sam Bergman.  He takes to task one of the paper’s recent editorials which paints musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra (and thereby those in peer orchestras with similar situations) in a completely inappropriate light. Sam is a well written articulate musician who calls it like he sees it, you’ll be better off …

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Axelrod Collection Value Determined By Attitude

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Adaptistration People 125

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra released a 66 page report from their Trustee Review Panel regarding the collection of string instruments purchased from Herbert Axelrod. The report will be examined in detail next week, in the meantime, here’s the initial paragraph from the report’s conclusion: “As emphasized earlier, the true value of the instruments for the NJSO lies in the attitude of the Orchestra’s musicians. The psychological boon to the NJSO’s …

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