You’ve probably read about the 2/28/2010 “incident” at Italy’s famed Pantheon where employees stopped a concert before it was over because it was closing time (thus prompting musician and audience ire). The incident embarrassed the Italian government enough that it ultimately prompted Italian Culture Minister Sandro Bondi to issue an official apology to the Russian musicians. But did you know there was video…
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Venture Project Update: Big News For Small Budget Groups
From the very beginning, The Venture Project has been focused on serving as a paradigm shift in the way many performing arts organizations improve marketing, revenue, and outreach performance. To that end, the overall cost has been an integral component in that process but the reality is that the existing lowest price point was best suited for groups starting at the $1 mil annual budget level on up. But thanks to some big-brain thinking from the developer, BlueprintDS, it is looking more and more likely that will change for the better…
Reveling In Microsite Goodness
As promised at the middle of last month, the new official resource site for the Take A Friend To The Orchestra program is up and running. The virtual ribbon was cut last night and you are now free to stop by and stay awhile. I’m very pleased with how this microsite turned out and like any worthwhile effort, it’s designed to be simple to use, easy to navigate, and provide a variety of indexed search options. But most of all, it’s designed to inspire…
The French Are Not As Forgiving
Dan Wakin’s article in the 3/3/2010 edition of the New York Times does an excellent job at reporting on the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra’s working conditions. According to his report, the musicians earn $40 per concert with no per diems and a number of the musicians go on record talking about unsatisfactory working and travel conditions. If this doesn’t sound familiar, it should. At the end of 2005, conductor Volker Hartung and his Cologne New Philharmonic made international news after French authorities arrested and jailed him for two days as a result of breaking French labor law…
Ouch. My Pride.
Over at Proper Discord, one of my posts from 2004 made it to the #5 position in the list of “30 things that won’t save classical music.” Proper Discord’s author asserts “Classical music doesn’t need saving and the only thing that will increase its reach is for the people involved to do their jobs better.” For the most part, I agree with the latter half of that sentiment and would go so far as mentioning that was exactly the point from my article that made the #5 spot…