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.

Some Recent Developments And Debunking Some Spin

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Recent DevelopmentsIt’s certainly been an interesting week in the orchestra industry.  One very interesting development is the recent announcement that Columbus Symphony Orchestra Board Chair Michael J. McMennamin has relinquished his post as chair of the Board of Trustees.  Details are covered in an article by Eileen Coyne in the August 12th edition of Columbus Business First. This means that the Columbus symphony now has absolutely no full time leadership: no …

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Reader Response: Various Thoughts From Some “Guy”

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Last Monday’s article produced a wonderful stream of emails from a wide assortment of readers. People wrote in to comment about my “doctor” complaint mostly in favor but a few chastised my “cavalier attitude” toward people who have “worked hard” to get that Ph.D degree. But some of the really fascinating feedback centered on the unpretentious attitudes displayed by Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Guy Braunstein and his aversion to the title “Herr …

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Negotiation News From Columbus (OH)

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This summer is unique in that it’s one of those odd years when a large percentage of orchestras across the country are negotiating new contracts simultaneously.  For the small portion of orchestras that aren’t negotiating, it’s a nice time to focus on matters at hand and look forward to the upcoming season…

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Various Thoughts From Some “Guy”

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Fellow AJ blogger Kyle Gann posted a comment of mine a few days ago I sent to him in response to a piece he wrote about a new degree program for music criticism. And it brings up an interesting point about society in general: the amount of automatic validation people assign to owning a degree. I think it’s important for people to always consider that education is hardly a substitute for …

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