Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Shop Talk

Shop Talk S01E05: What Orchestras Administrators Really Need

Tue, Oct 10, 2020
Guests: Zak Vassar, President & CEO of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts; and Jeff Vom Saal, Executive Director of the Spokane Symphony & Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox.

Shop Talk S01E04: Fostering BIPOC And Women Composers

Tue, Sep 9, 2020
Who says COVID shutdowns mean you can’t have a new music workshop? Nonsense! Necessity is the mother of invention and in this installment of Shop Talk we sit down with the trio of big musical brains responsible for putting together The Great Plains Composition Workshop at the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (WSO), which reached out to

Shop Talk S01E03: Deconstructing Silos

Tue, Sep 9, 2020
In the beginning when Artsgod created nonprofit administration, the org chart was a formless void of jack-of-all-trades that covered the face of the deep. Then Artsgod said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Artsgod saw that the light was good; and he separated marketing from development. Artsgod called the light earned income and

Shop Talk Last Call: Board Diversity

Fri, Sep 9, 2020
Grab a cocktail and strap in, we’re going to talk about board diversity with S01E02 guests Weston Sprott and Jason Haaheim. This segment produced a number of memorable quotes: “Power sharing, that’s really what this conversation is all about.” “It’s the modern equivalent of Papal Indulgences.” “Normal led to this, I’m not sure we want

Shop Talk S01E02: Art Has Always Been Political

Tue, Sep 9, 2020
“Yes, duh, art has always been political.” That’s the way one of this episode’s guests described today’s topic, but in the form of one slice of bread used to create the larger sandwich: are opera companies living up to their missions? This episode’s guests include Weston Sprott, Dean of the Preparatory Division at the Juilliard