Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Commentary

The First Rule Of Survival Is Surviving

Mon, Apr 4, 2014
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Violinist Holly Mulcahy published an intriguing article at Inside The Arts on 4/13/2014 that focuses on how musicians can improve their own survivability by learning how to eat better while simultaneously saving money and wasting less. And even though she approaches the process from the perspective of helping her fellow musicians, everything she covers is

An Overwhelming Culture Of Façade

Wed, Mar 3, 2014
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Joe Patti posted a fascinating article over at Butts In The Seats on 3/17/2014 about earnest examination of failure which got me thinking about the upcoming conference season and how much more useful service organizations could be if they spent as much time examining failures as everything else done during a typical conference. One point

A Sad Day

Mon, Jan 1, 2014
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I was saddened to learn the news that Doug Whitaker unexpectedly passed away on 1/9/2014. For those who didn’t know him, Doug was the Director of Artistic Operations at Memphis Symphony and an absolute archetype of the sort of professional arts manager that keeps this field running, often in spite of boom or bust cycles.

Getting Real About Transparency: The Compensation Double Standard

Tue, Jan 1, 2014
There’s an intriguing article by Eleanor Turney in the 1/2/14 Guardian Culture Professionals Network blog (h/t Thomas Cott) where she discusses the need for realistic changes within the arts field during 2014. One of her points is on transparency and the need to talk about money openly and honestly; I couldn’t agree more and to

Move Forward

Tue, Dec 12, 2013
2013 was one hell of a year; marked by dizzying highs and crushing lows, most of the field still managed to get to the end in one piece. And although resolutions are a popular past time, I’ve never found them useful; at the same time, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few things I’d like
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