Back Next Week

I’m away for a short vacation and decided to take a few extras days off from blogging as well but I’ll try to be back on Wednesday, September 14, 2022. Once things are back up and running, we’ll be examining the decision by one professional orchestra to begin charging audition fees and hopefully have enough data to publish the compensation reports.

Happy Labor Day! Now Get Your Binge On

Take a moment to treat yourself today and get to learn about ins and outs of orchestra management from a humorous perspective by binge-reading all 157 episodes of  Who’s Minding The Score?, a satirical cartoon that provides a behind the scenes look orchestra life. It’s the ideal way to spend some of your Labor Day, really, just take a look at some of these characters… [easy-tweet tweet=”I’m spending part of my Labor Day reading …

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Hiring When Your Arts And Culture Organization Operates In A State That Outlaws Abortion

Last June, we started to examine the post Roe v. Wade operating environment and how orchestras that operate in states that criminalize reproductive health care practices will have to handle hiring. On one hand, states like Kansas that rejected proposed legislation that would have criminalized abortion avoid dealing with the aftermath. But the same isn’t true for groups in Indiana, where that state’s legislature passed one of the most restrictive bans …

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Apparently, Orchestras Are Among The Most Midwestern Things On The Planet

I know exactly where your orchestra should build its next venue: between a popular fishing hole and Amish country in a county with high Lutheran population…oh, and in the winter months, those fields needs snowmobiling trails. #BigDataUsedBadly Seriously though, an article by Andrew Van Dam in the 8/8/2022 edition of the Washington Post provides some fascinating data obtained after sifting through thousands of Airbnb listings to see how Midwesterners identify as …

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If Your Digital Program Is A PDF Of The Print Version, You’re Doing It All Wrong

H/T to Joe Patti for pointing out an opinion piece by Washington Post music critic, Michael Andor Brodeur, that may perhaps be best described with the headline “Perfectly Normal Change Upsets White Male.” Having said that, he inadvertently touches on one of the very real problems with the way some arts organizations implement digital program books. Far too often, arts orgs take a PDF copy of the print format layout and …

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