It has been a little while since we checked in on the situation brewing at the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and since both parties involved in the dispute have recently issued statements; it is high time for an update. If you’re not already familiar with previous events, here is what has happened so far…
Governance
Meet The New NEA Chairman
It looks like all of the initial chatter about Michael Dorf leading the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) was all for naught as news about theater producer Rocco Landesman appointment started popping up in newspapers and online. The 5/12/09 edition of the New York Times published the most comprehensive article about the appointment to date and they offered an intriguing glimpse into one particular quality that might make Landesman the right man for the job…
Mixed Nuts: A Case Against Mergers
Andrew Taylor, Director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration, an MBA degree program and research center in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, and long time arts blogging colleague posted a fascinating piece on May 7th that examines the potential for mergers in the nonprofit world. It focuses on mergers throughout the broader nonprofit world but when it comes to performing arts organizations, mergers are rarely a good idea…
“Thank You, Next!” Wait, Where Is Everyone?
Hot on the heels of the personnel drama at the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra (PSO), the organization has cancelled auditions scheduled for May, 2009 for three vacant positions. Earlier this week AFM Local 586, which represents the Musicians Phoenix Symphony, distributed a memo to orchestra musicians notifying them that due to concerns from fellow musicians, they have been in contact with the PSO to urge the organization to “either cancel May auditions or to notify each candidate of the possibility auditions may either be cancelled or no one hired, given the current fiscal situation.”…
It’s Time For A Nonprofit LLC
In yesterday’s article, I mentioned the notion of a nonprofit LLC and wanted to take a moment to expand on that notion. If you imagine the world of U.S. performing arts as a brick wall then the multi-million annual budget size organizations are the bricks and the mega-million annual budget organizations function as cornerstones. Of course, there’s something else in the wall besides varying sized blocks and that’s the mortar; the numerous organizations and sole artists that have annual budgets below $1 million annual budgets and they desperately need a charitable status to work with besides the 501(c)3…