Adaptistration – Page 150 – Drew McManus on the orchestra business.

Let’s Elevate The Discourse Of Labor Disputes

Thursday, June 6th, 2019Thursday, June 6th, 2019 by Drew McManus

As the Baltimore Symphony heads into what is looking like an all but certain knock-down, drag-out labor dispute, it’s worth mentioning a few points of opportunity all stakeholders can benefit from. First and foremost, it’s time to internalize the distinction between executives and staff within the larger administrative structure. Historically, during orchestra labor disputes, it’s common for musician employees to use the term “management” when referring to the executive leadership; specifically, …

Killing Me Softly With Nomenclature

Wednesday, June 5th, 2019 by Drew McManus

Do I know what makes a masterworks concert a masterworks concert? Of course I do…but why don’t you tell me what you think it means first then I’ll let you know if that’s what I thought. That’s an actual conversation I overheard a few years ago but never really stuck me until I presented at a conference last year alongside Ceci Dadisman. Ceci introduced an element about how arts orgs inadvertently …

Musician Dress Codes: The Topic With Staying Power

Tuesday, June 4th, 2019 by Drew McManus

Overcoming tradition combined with the challenge of practicality conspire to produce increasingly elusive solutions when it comes to updating musician dress codes. Having said that, it’s always a bit irksome is when groups attempt to address the issue by throwing money at it in the form of custom designs. Yes, it’s fun to play what-if dress up with foundation dollars and quite a few of those projects over the years have …

Birthday Fundraiser Success And Baltimore Symphony News

Monday, June 3rd, 2019 by Drew McManus

Thanks to everyone who contributed to my matching gift fundraiser I mentioned in last Friday’s post. Thanks to the generosity of donors, it raised $1,000 and reached 200% of the original goal! This amount will fund 1/3 of a prison recital program from Arts Capacity, which helps people in need through the power of live music and art to cope with challenges and develop the capacity to experience change for good. It …

It’s My Birthday And I’ll Match Gifts If I Want To

Friday, May 31st, 2019 by Drew McManus

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve almost certainly come across a fundraiser associated with someone’s birthday. Facebook has done a good job at making it easy to raise money for individual to raise money for nonprofits but something I have yet to see is any sort of matching gift component. Typically, the individual starting a fundraiser will be the first to give but I wondered if Facebook had any integrated method to …