Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
On one hand, it’s great to see orchestras hiring back staff members who were laid off or furloughed over the pandemic. At the same time, when I speak with a number of executives it is clear they are having a difficult time not only hiring back those workers, but attracting new employees to fill those now vacant positions and the single most common reason is uncompetitive pay. It’s no secret nonprofit …
While it’s heartening to see nonprofit performing arts organizations demonstrate an ability to roll with the punches throughout the pandemic, it’s good to see municipalities begin to step in and provide guidance in the wake of the latest variant,. New York City will become the first city to require vaccinations for indoor activities, which include concerts. According to an 8/2/21 article in Rolling Stone by Jon Blistein, NYC’s plan is to …
We’ve been talking a lot about academia this summer and there’s another must-read entry that should go on your reading list. This one is from concert saxophonist and educator Lois Hicks-Wozniak, who recently wrote about her decision to resign from all three of her adjunct faculty positions. The reason was simple: lousy pay, lousy prospects, and lack of appreciation and acknowledgement. Along with a pivot into lack of diversity among faculty …
Recently, a colleague turned me onto the Song Exploder podcast, which is produced and edited by host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway. The show premise is straightforward: Where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. Hirway takes a deep dive into a single song and often breaks things down even more by diving into specific tracks from the original recording session. Each …
Yesterday’s post about conservatories and schools of music getting into the artist management game generated a great deal of fascinating feedback at my Facebook wall, the majority of which spanned a range of well-articulated concerns. You can join in on the conversation firsthand but here are some of the highlights worth sharing. One individual was concerned about this becoming the latest step down the path of conservatories becoming commercial endeavors: It …