Five Questions With Black Orchestral Network Founding Board Member Alex Laing

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Perhaps the one thing that sets the Black Orchestral Network (BON) apart from similar efforts is how much importance they place on accountability as a key to measuring success. In their open letter to American Orchestras, words are rarely minced. Systemic issues are clearly identified and after reading through their material several times it seems clear this group of musicians have grown weary of the gap between equity word salad and …

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Black Orchestral Network Lays Out Plan For Meaningful Progress On Orchestral Inclusivity And Equity

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The Black Orchestral Network (BON), a newly formed organization comprised of Black members from more than forty orchestras, announced Monday, May 9, 2022, as a Day of Solidarity. The campaign has received early support from Gateways Music Festival and Working IDEAL along with community support from the Black Music Action Coalition. BON lays out their goals in an open letter to American orchestra’s stakeholders and right out of the gate, they …

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Words Matter

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Joe Patti published a fantastic article on 5/3/22 that examines labels attached to common nonprofit circumstances, like using “give” when communicating with patrons about donations. We’ve all encountered this at one point or another; retail stores frequently call customers “guests” and to a large degree, those changes are driven by expectations. Patti presents a few specific examples where the nonprofit sector could benefit from a similar approach and ultimately arrives at …

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Arts And Culture Employers Prefer Arts Admin Jobs

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Recently, I distributed a survey to all the arts and culture employers that have posted job listings at Arts Admin Jobs (AAJ). The survey asked them to rate their user experience and return on investment compared to four other well known jobs boards that specialize in the arts and culture sector+. Out of 896 employer accounts, just over 300 responded and the results are clear: employers overwhelmingly prefer AAJ’s job submission …

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It’s Time To Change up The Conversation On Concert Attire

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Over the weekend, I ran across a Facebook discussion about what patrons wear to the orchestra. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it followed all of the well-worn paths about what everyone thought was acceptable or not and it stuck me just how much those talking points are out of touch. Artistic excellence is inconsequential if you aren’t selling tickets so to that end, the field desperately needs to throw all these old conversations out …

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