Is It Time To Bring Back The Take A Friend To The Orchestra Program?

Adaptistration People 187For nine years, the annual Take A Friend To The Orchestra program was a staple of Adaptistration’s Spring content. At its height, it generated more than two weeks of contributions each year but after several years, heading all of those cats became a bit overwhelming so I let the program go silent for two years. But after receiving a number of emails asking whether 2016 is the year its coming back, it seemed appropriate to let the readers make that call.

To that end, if we get a simple majority of 1000 readers to cast a vote in favor, you can rest assured it will be back this April.

  • Your Info

  • While optional, this information can be helpful for the guests to have in order to know about your perspective.
  • Your Questions

    Feel free to submit questions for one or all upcoming shows.
  • Guests: Jason Haaheim, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Principal Timpanist and Mark Almond, San Francisco Opera Co-Principal Horn.
  • Guests: Jeff Vom Saal, Spokane Symphony Executive Director and Zak Vassar, Toledo Symphony Executive Director.
  • Guests: Anwar Nasir, Omaha Symphony Chief Revenue & Advancement Officer and Scott Harrison, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra Interim Executive Director and Senior Strategic Facilitator.
  • Guests: Daniel Hege, Music Director, Wichita Symphony Orchestra ; Anne M. Guzzo, composer and the founder of New Frontiers Festival of contemporary music based in Laramie, Wyoming; and Holly Mulcahy, Concertmaster, Wichita Symphony and Chattanooga Symphony & Opera.

If the Take A Friend To The Orchestra program is new to you, then you’re in for a treat as we have an entire site dedicated to 80 posts of wonderfully inspiring and original content that provides a user friendly way to get your empowerment on.

In order to refresh your memory, there’s a list of all the contributors with links to his/her respective article at the end of this post; those marked with an asterisk are reader favorites based on overall traffic.

About 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.

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