Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Over the weekend, I posted the following rant about portfolio aspect ratio images on Facebook: PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT When getting PR photos, please insist the photographer shoot in landscape aspect ratio, not portrait. Posted by Drew McManus on Thursday, July 9, 2020 Given that it’s always a good thing to balance a rant with something productive on the same topic, I decided to create a free Photoshop template that provides one method …
Last week, I asked readers for some feedback on whether they were considering replacing print program books with a digital alternative when concert events start up in the Fall. We had just under 150 responses and the results were fascinating. If concert activity resumes in the Fall, does your organization plan on using print program books? Exactly half of the respondents indicated they weren’t sure what they were going to do. …
I wanted to follow-up on one specific topic introduced in the sfcv.org article referenced in yesterday’s post in the form of forcing subscription renewals to choose or lose. If you have yet to read that article, it examines how arts organizations are navigating COVID-19 challenges. Here’s the broader context for the choose or lose subscription sales strategy: Orchestras are also facing the issue of whether, at this point to continue to …
During times of crisis it is not unusual to see formal communication include more than its fair share of adjectives and adverbs to help set a narrative. While the need for transparency and expedient communication is strong, it’s worth a few extra moments to perform a formal modifier check. Case in point, I’m seeing a spike in the use of the word “indefinitely” to describe cancellations. Example: “We regret to inform …
Back in 2013 we examined the trend of orchestras to include scant information about an event on the corresponding single event pages at their website. Since then, not much has changed. Spend a little bit of time going through orchestra websites and odds are, you’ll find very little information about the works listeners can expect to hear. Budget size doesn’t seem to have impact. Even some mega-budget groups routinely provide no …