Not Dead Yet: QR Codes
Thu, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
One of the more intriguing byproducts of the pandemic is its influence in bringing QR codes back into mainstream use. We’ve been examining their potential for more than a decade and while their popularity has ebbed and flowed, they are currently riding a high thanks in large part to mobile operating systems doing a much
Just In Case You Thought Unionization Was On The Decline In The Arts And Culture Sector
Wed, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
Back in January, 2022 one of the largest museums in the country, employees at the Art Institute of Chicago voted to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees by a vote of 142-44. That’s a 76 percent majority. As reported by artnews.com in an article by Alex Grengerger, the decision by workers
Use A Person’s Natural Tendency for Grouping Content To Your Advantage
Tue, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
The second installment in the series of articles I’m writing about how arts administrators can use the Laws of User Experience to be better at just about everything they do is now published! This article focuses on the Law Of Common Region and how you can help boost a person’s natural tendency to group similar
Want To Bail On Spotify But Don’t Know How To Migrate Playlists?
Mon, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
No, this isn’t a post about the doins a-transpiring with the political fight going on at Spotify. But it is a post with a resource on how to go about migrating away from Spotify without losing your playlists. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Spotify’s service. It’s too difficult to use and had to
Is Now The Time To Revamp The Audition Process?
Thu, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
Holly Mulcahy published an article at Neo Classical about audition requirements. It serves as a follow-up to something she wrote in 2018 on the topic and spoiler alert: not much has changed for the better. “Over the last four years, the social justice movement has had a positive influence on the way orchestras approach programming while some
Sometimes The Best Message On Why The Arts Are Important Doesn’t Need Quantification
Tue, Feb 2, 2022
by Drew McManus
Even before the pandemic, the orchestra field had its hands full addressing its relevance in contemporary culture. Unfortunately, financial pressures of the pandemic have started to reignite counterproductive guns or butter debates. While that’s nothing more than a logical fallacy trap, we don’t have the luxury of ignoring it. But instead of getting sucked into
The First Step In NOT Reinventing The Wheel
Mon, Jan 1, 2022
by Drew McManus
I completed the first in a series of articles I’m writing about how arts administrators can use the Laws of User Experience to be better at just about everything they do. The articles show you how each of the 21 practices can be applied to far more than just user experience tasks. The inaugural post
Friday Client Sugar
Fri, Jan 1, 2022
by Drew McManus
It’s always invigorating when working with great clients and a few weeks back, I had the pleasure of launching the redesigned Kansas City Repertory Theatre website: kcrep.org. Everyone inside the organization was just wonderful to work with from the initial inquiry call to checking off the final punch list item. And because we operate on
Turn Of The Screw, Politics And Fundraising Edition
Thu, Jan 1, 2022
by Drew McManus
While balancing political ideology across stakeholders has always been a core task for executives and fundraisers, that world has fundamentally changed over the past several years. It’s a topic we’ve examined across several articles. And the orchestra field certainly isn’t alone. To that end, Drew Lindsay published a pair of articles at The Chronicle of
Selling The Benefit