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.

Reader Response: Controversy Over Commissions

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Several orchestra managers and industry insiders wrote in with concerns about my ideas surrounding the use of commission based compensation in the orchestra industry.

In general, they all took issue over my suggestion that commissions should be included as a portion of some executive and staff member compensation. All of the emails I received were well thought out and articulate, but I began to pick up on one consistent theme: everyone was assuming that the commission structure was universal and all encompassing.

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Reader Response: “More POO At The POA*”

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Ok, the catchy title for today’s article isn’t my idea.  It was the subject line from an email I received from a Philadelphia Orchestra patron, Eric Bruskin.  Eric wrote in to ask a few poignant questions and offer some of his observations about how the POA board of directors has decided to use the orchestra’s website as a venue for the ongoing negotiations with the musicians. “I live in Philly and …

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A Quick Pointer To Some Recent Developments

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I just received word that in today’s Philadelphia paper featured competing Op-Ed pieces about the situation in Philly.  One view represents management the other represents the players: Management’s piece Musician’s piece Both are worth taking the time to read and I’ll decipher the spin here in the near future.

How Tuba Players Are Going To Save Classical Music

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Step 3, the final step in the series How To Save Classical Music, will focus on changing the internal attitudes among the stakeholders in an orchestra.  In order for orchestras to become financially and artistically healthy places that facilitate an exciting atmosphere for creating music, there needs to exist an exciting internal culture they can build from.  And as of now, many orchestras don’t enjoy such an environment.  Perhaps I could …

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What On Earth Is Going On At Philadelphia?

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On Tuesday, July 13th, a big blue banner link on the home page at the Philadelphia Orchestra entitled “Securing The Future, Negotiations Update” appeared.  This was quite a surprise to see since it’s customary for both sides involved in a contract negotiation to have a press blackout.

According to a representative from the AFM Symphonic Services division, there’s nothing legally preventing the management from posting something like this on the web site.  Technically, they own it so they get to decide what goes up.

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