Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Joe Patti published a spectacular article on 9/18/2013 titled Drama Is A Choice that, among other things, examines the long term impact of becoming conditioned to operating in high drama environments. He suggests that even though there are no shortage of reasons why arts groups are operating in extended crisis management mode, that doesn’t mean some of it isn’t brought on by choice. Patti’s post reminded me of an article I …
It’s rarely a good sign when Sunday morning news talk show topics have more in common with the orchestra field than not and it was difficult to listen to pundits talking about crippling impact of congressional entrenchment without seeing parallels in our field. One of the more surprising items was related to reports that one of the most sacred of Federal cows, the Department of Defense (DoD), is making genuine preparations …
Last week’s article examining a recent outpouring of support for the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Minneapolis-St. Paul Local 30-73 in the form of a $71,000 donation from a diverse collection of other AFM Locals and individuals, produced some intriguing comments. One from Milwaukee Symphony Principal Violist and President of AFM Local 8, Robert Levine, contains what might be considered by some as a line in the sand concerning how much …
There’s a fascinating report by Paul Solman about new research from the University of California, Berkeley on how wealth and inequality affects us psychologically. Originally broadcast on June 21, 2013 at PBSNewsHour.com one of the conclusions derived from the experimental evidence is rich people (those earning $150,000+ per year) are more likely to lie during negotiations and endorse unethical behavior. Given the frequency and degree of intense labor disputes in the …
The commencement speech given by Aspen Music Festival and School President and CEO Alan Fletcher during the 2013 Convocation on 6/24/2013 has been making the rounds due, in part, to its approach that some of the recent troubles in the field are the result of self inflicted stakeholder relations problems than merely a down economy. Regular Adaptistration readers already know this is a well-worn topic but it is nice to see it …