Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

A Worthwhile Concessionary Agreement Part 2

Thu, Oct 10, 2009
Part 1 in this set of articles examined the concept of board atrophy, a general deterioration of board stewardship, and how it is impacting an orchestra’s fundraising performance amidst the economic downturn. For the most part, this is every bit as serious a threat to the future of orchestras as the actual economic downturn. Today’s

A Brief Detour

Wed, Oct 10, 2009
My apologies to everyone showing up today looking for Part 2 from A Worthwhile Concessionary Agreement but while traveling the road of acquiring some necessary permissions we have hit a few potholes; in particular, the gods of travel and digital communication have not been smiling on our venture. Nonetheless, Part 2 will be posted as

A Worthwhile Concessionary Agreement Part 1

Tue, Oct 10, 2009
Amid the dizzying array of contract reopeners, work stoppages, and other fraught-filled collective bargaining negotiations since last fall, the ensuing agreements are more alike than not in that they contain some degree of compensation/benefit concessions. For the most part, these agreements have nothing special worth looking at but there are a few exceptions. One of

Marc van Bree’s Big List of Classical Music Twitterers

Mon, Oct 10, 2009
There’s nothing quite a satisfying as a good resource list and the world of cultural blogging has a new entry they can be proud of thanks to Marc van Bree, author of the Dutch Perspective, a self described “levensbeschouwing (a Dutch word, by way of Germany, meaning “world view”) based loosely on two themes: public

It’s Called Satire

Fri, Oct 10, 2009
Perhaps the budget cuts have everyone on edge and granted, we all probably take ourselves a bit too seriously for our own good in this business but it was a bit surprising to see some of the feedback to the satirical news piece posted by Leonard Slatkin at his website on 9/23/2009 detailing some new

The Funny Side Of Apathy

Thu, Oct 10, 2009
Ah, apathy. At times, it seems like the evil grease that keeps the gears of this business grinding but that doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining. Case in point, fellow arts management blogger plank owner Andrew Taylor posted an article on 10/14/2009 pointing out the Bureau of Communication, a tongue-in-cheek organization on a mission to

2009 Orchestra Website Review: US and Canadian Comparisons

Wed, Oct 10, 2009
The final article in the 2009 Orchestra Website Reviews will compare and contrast US and Canadian results. Both groups made advancements but the Canadians, on average, once again made greater strides. This article examines exactly which components had the most impact on these developments…

2009 Canadian Orchestra Website Review: Trends and Detailed Scores

Tue, Oct 10, 2009
With only a few exceptions, 2009 was a good year for Canadian orchestra websites. Overall, the higher half of scores moved up while the lower half managed to maintain previous levels…

2009 Canadian Orchestra Website Review: Overall Rankings

Mon, Oct 10, 2009
Between 09/29/2009 and 09/30/2009, 14 professional Canadian orchestra websites were examined and ranked by how well they presented their concert schedule, sold tickets, facilitated making donations, provided organizational information, utilized dynamic content, and on functionality. Overall, the average Canadian orchestra website score increased in 2009 to an all-time high of 72.17 out of 100…

2009 Orchestra Website Review: Reader’s Choice

Fri, Oct 10, 2009
After years of hearing from readers about which features they find important in an orchestra website but never having a way for them to include them into the reviews, it brings me great pleasure to incorporate the Reader’s Choice Awards in the 2009 reviews. This feature allowed readers to take advantage of the opportunity to
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