Speak No Evil: Oregon Bach Festival

Adaptistration People 210 large

When all else fails, try burying bad PR under a sack of cash. That appears to be what the Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) and University of Oregon (UO) decided when it came to the snowballing PR disaster following their decision to end Artistic Director Matthew Halls’ three-year contract extension a mere two months after it was signed. An article by Saul Hubbard in the 9/14/2017 edition of The Register-Guard reports that …

Read more

Are Things About To Go Sideways For The Oregon Bach Festival?

PR Crisis Management

There’s a study in PR crisis management unfolding in real-time via the Oregon Bach Festival’s (OBF) decision to terminate artistic director, Matthew Halls. If you haven’t been following the details, here’s what you need to know: In June, 2017, the OBF completed a contract extension with Halls through the 2020 season. Barely two months later on Aug 27, OBF issues a press statement announcing Halls was leaving the organization because the …

Read more

Artists As Representatives

the problem is you

I have something to confess: I wanted to make today’s post a rant against a sharp uptick in the number of instances where I’ve encountered artists behaving boorishly among patrons. Although it sounds wonderfully cathartic, it would have ultimately run afoul of this blog’s Code of Conduct. That’s when it struck me that the reason I’m noticing more and more artists doing an abysmal job at representing their institution (and by …

Read more

A Mess Of Our Own Design

Adaptistration People 096

Douglas Rosenthal published an article on 8/1/2016 that tackles the difficult topic of sexual harassment inside the orchestra field. Although the topic is always bound to make some uncomfortable, it is difficult to deny that our field has a track record of making things worse than it needs. This is due to a lack of adopting practices designed to make sure all employees understand the institution’s key HR policies and procedures …

Read more

Why Are Executive So Keen On Breaking HR Rules?

Adaptistration People 076

It seems as though hardly a year passes that doesn’t have one or more incidents that give HR professionals heartburn. The latest is a whale among the minnows in light of news that recently departed Lincoln Center (LC) president, Jed Bernstein, left as the result of what the organization described as a “[violation of] Lincoln Center human resources policy by not disclosing a personal relationship with an employee.” The 5/4/2016 edition …

Read more