Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight a post from Joe Patti this week that includes a reminder from NEA director of the Office of Research & Analysis, Sunil Iyengar, about the need for arts organizations to remain focused on a post-Covid environment that strives for parity. Given that it’s all too easy to get caught up in the here and now of concessions during the pandemic, boards and executive …
The Vax Policy Database has been gathering data since August 20, 2021 and it’s been adding new records daily. Over the holiday weekend, I added additional view to the database making it easier to see exactly which organizations require all stakeholders to be vaccinated, which provide all stakeholders except ticket buyers, which only require artist employees and staff, and the sliver that have a defined “no required vaccination” policy. At the …
Among the numerous details to work out when crafting required vaccination policies is when an employee cites religious objections and requests an exemption. Recently, the 8/30/21 edition of starnewsonline.com published an article by John Staton that reports on the Wilmington Symphony’s decision to deny a musician’s religious exemption to their required vaccination policy. The article includes the following statement about when an employer isn’t required to accommodate religious belief requests: At …
Almost a year ago, I published an article asking why some conductors seemed to be exempt for mask requirements during performances when on-stage musicians were required to be masked. Now that we’re looking at an extension of CDC recommended strategies to help control the Delta variant that clearly indicate the need to be masked indoors in public spaces, I’m still seeing some of the year-old arguments from conductors about why they …
It should come as no surprise that performing arts orgs are playing a combination of push and pull when it comes to establishing required vaccination policies. On one hand, they want to push decisions back as far as possible to see how rapidly changing pandemic conditions change. At the same time, they want to pull decisions from venue owners and guest artists on whether they insist on having vaccination requirements to …