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Orchestra Administration À La Venn Diagram

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Although the essays on orchestra governance are still the standard for learning what you need to know about orchestra administrators, you can now use this handy Venn diagram to see  how each department interacts with other groups of orchestra stakeholders… “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” – Abraham Lincoln …

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IGNORE ME!!!

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More precisely, you should ignore everybody. At least that’s the perspective of author Hugh MacLeod in his book Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. I’m not even all the way through this book yet I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a quick and easy read and based on what I’ve already read, there’s a wealth of insight that can be adopted to benefit everyone in this business (administrators, musicians, patrons, etc.)…

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Following the NEA Stimulus Money

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True to their word, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) distributed all of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds (AKA Stimulus Funds, Federal Bailout, etc.) within five months of the economic recovery bill. Not long ago, the NEA posted a list of nonprofit arts organizations that received a direct grant to “support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.” Here’s a list of how those funds were distributed along with some cross tabulation not available at the NEA website…

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It’s About Bloody Time

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Unless your internet service has been down over the past 24 hours, you’ve probably read the piece in the 7/8/2009 edition of the Times Online (UK) by Richard Morrison that reports on a patron suing a The Wizard of Oz production for failing to use live music. In essence, the patron turned plaintiff was miffed over the fact that the production was billed as a “magical family musical” but failed to mention that the singers were performing to a recorded instrumental soundtrack. Although these events have transpired across the Atlantic, US ballet and opera companies should take heed…

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“A Ship Is Safe In Harbor, But That’s Not What Ships Are For.”

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A short while ago, Joe Patti posed a question over at Butts In The Seats asking whether or not orchestras should confine their programming to just a few genres. The first thing that popped into my head when I read his original post was a quote from Mark Twain: “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.”

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