Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
It was bound to happen. An orchestra’s guidelines requires as much masking for on stage musicians as possible. A chorus that operates as a separate entity has a different policy and refuses to wear masks. As a result, any works that require a chorus are removed from the program. An article by Peter Dobrin in the 8/19/2022 Philadelphia Inquirer reports on this exact scenario and to make matter even stickier, it …
Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, companies started announcing policies to offer benefits to their employees who may need access to abortion services but live in states that have criminalized the reproductive health care practice. For arts and culture organizations, orchestras in particular, the situation forces a new subject into the growing list of social issues that organizations are staking positions, such as the decision by San Francisco …
It’s not exactly earth shattering to say that budget projections are a squishy dark art (at best). But some of what I hear from colleagues on the earned income side of budget projections has been fascinating when it comes to the 22/23 season. While some are still embracing what I would consider a prudent approach of not having anywhere near enough data to accurately predict sales, I hear from others about …
I don’t usually recommend books but every now and then there’s an exception to that rule and in today’s case, it’s Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir. Drawing on cutting-edge research from behavioral science and economics, Mullainathan and Shafir show that scarcity creates a similar psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Busy people fail to manage their time …
The 2/21/22 edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a pair of articles by Katelyn Newberg and John Katsilometes, respectively, that reports on a lawsuit filed by former Las Vegas Philharmonic (LV Phil) executive director, Anne Berquist, against her former employer. According to the articles, Berquist alleges insurance fraud and discriminatory practices. Excerpts of the complaint are published in the 2/18/22 edition of Slippedisc.com. During the pandemic, the LV Phil followed …