Finance

The Orchestra 990 Database Project: Exploratory Poll

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ADAPTISTRATION-GUY-024

Yesterday’s post about the potential for developing an online keyword search database for all professional orchestras produced a good deal of feedback, thanks to everyone who took the time to write in with your thoughts etc. As it stands, there was enough interest that the idea has been officially upgraded to the early stages of exploration. I have my development team from Venture looking into some the tech requirements and I’d …

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How Many Times Have You Wished This Existed For Orchestras

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Just imagine how nice it would be to conduct a search for “music director” across all professional orchestra IRS Form 990s for the past decade. For now, it is still a dream but there’s an interesting article by Lucy Bernholz at PHILANTHROPY 2173 (h/t Thomas Cott) that examines a free offering from The Foundation Center that provides a searchable 990PF database, branded FDOfree. After a cursory bit of usage, it is …

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Some Initial Thoughts On Nashville

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I’ve been deliberately holding off writing anything about the real-time game of chicken going on between the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and Bank of America over the latter’s decision to foreclose on the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in order to see if the situation resolved itself. But since that didn’t happen over the weekend, it is high time to weigh in with some thoughts. I had the pleasure of speaking with Tennessean …

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Charges Of Financial Irregularities At Symphony Of The Americas

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Adaptistration Lady Justice

When joining the board of a nonprofit performing arts organization, most folks don’t assume the job will include a political battle fought in the public arena for doing nothing more than acting as a steward of public trust. But according to a report in the 6/4/2013 edition of WPLG’s Local10.com by Bob Norman, that appears to be the case at the Symphony of the Americas (SoA) where members of the organization’s …

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Oregon Gets A Haircut

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A little off the top

Although not exactly a buzz cut compared to their peers, the musicians of the Oregon Symphony (OS) recently agreed to midterm amendment to their existing collective bargaining agreement that reportedly waives a lump sum end of season payment along with the planned 2.6 percent base salary increase for the 2013/14 season. The 5/28/2013 edition of The Oregonian published an article by David Stabler where the author describes the latest round of …

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