Acknowledging Courage

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One of the most challenging aspects within the field of arts and culture is navigating the political landscape. Short of safe positions such as opposing funding cuts to arts and culture, adopting public positions on politically charged issues almost certainly produces outcomes that require enduring institutional pain. Consequently, it is worth noting when an organization decides to stake a political position and that’s exactly what happened this weekend at a regularly …

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Classical Music Convinces ISIS Fighters To Surrender

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The 11/17/2016 edition of the Washington Post published an article by Caitlin Dewey that reports on the influence of fake news stories on the recent presidential election. It’s a sobering read but well worth your time, and although there’s more than enough to wade through via the political ramifications, it got me thinking that perhaps we are even further behind the marketing curve than we like to think. As insane as …

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Orchestras Don’t Survive On Earned Income. In Other News, The Sky Is Blue

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The 11/15/2016 edition of the New York Times published an article by Michael Cooper that examines a recent report form the League of American Orchestras announcing most orchestras rely more on unearned then earned income. Unearned income includes revenue not directly related to a consumer paying for a service, such as donations, investment income and grants. Earned income encompasses ticket sales (annual and single) and fee based services such as an …

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The Election’s Impact On Labor Relations

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Although there will likely be no shortage of post-election bear traps springing up for the field, one area worth keeping a close eye on is labor relations. We tend to spend most of our time here focusing on the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) but one of the other labor unions which wields a degree of stakeholder level influence is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). IATSE’s international president, …

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“Despair Is No Answer”

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Today’s title comes from the closing paragraph of David Remnick’s 11/9/2016 New Yorker article and I wanted to take a moment to examine the full excerpt. But despair is no answer. To combat authoritarianism, to call out lies, to struggle honorably and fiercely in the name of American ideals—that is what is left to do. That is all there is to do. But despair is no answer. To combat authoritarianism, to …

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