Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
It’s no secret that finding qualified applicants for incredibly demanding positions within the ranks of middle and entry level orchestra administration is no simple task but are we making this already difficult task even more difficult thanks to unrealistic expectations or failing to use applicable criteria? Joe Patti posted a terrific article on this topic on 8/24/15 and as it turns out, the topic is fairly popular right now and Patti …
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) bassist Michael Hovnanian published an article at his blog, Bass Blog, on 8/8/2015 that references some recent CSO Ravinia Festival events. Shortly after the piece was published, several dozen musicians and orchestra managers reach out to me via private messages expressing varying degrees of concern over the content and tone of Hovanian’s piece. One item in particular from the original version was referenced by a number of individuals …
Although it doesn’t get very much attention, how orchestras define employees, both on-stage and administrative, has a large impact on its operations and expense structure and one of the hot button political issues taking shape in the upcoming presidential election is how employers go about classifying workers either as independent contractors or employees. At the center of the controversy is the hyper growth fueled transportation provider Uber and a recent California …
In the wake of the landmark United States Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, employers that offer spousal benefits will be required to do so for same sex couples. An article in the 6/26/2015 edition of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) by Rachel Emma Silverman reviews the FAQs that impact employers as a whole and is a good resource for orchestras. By and large, orchestras are comparatively progressive employers in …
We had just under 100 responses to the 6/3/15 survey asking readers their opinion on a variety of questions related to the practice of listing salary as “depends on experience” (DOE) in job descriptions and the results are, to say the least, thought-provoking. Respondents The overwhelming majority of respondents self-identified as job seekers and most of those indicated that job listings should include salary ranges. Among those who responded with “other” …