The news started trickling in toward the middle of last week but an article by Gabe Bullard in the 9/16/2011 edition of WFPL.com made it official when it reported that consultant Ralph Craviso had been selected by the Louisville Orchestra (LO) and their musicians to become involved in the mediation of their labor dispute. The only question in my mind upon hearing the news was “What, was Governor Scott Walker busy?”
What's a Performing Arts Executive Worth?
I had the pleasure last week of recording a segment for WQXR.org’s Conducting Business program with host Jeff Spurgeon on the topic of executive compensation within the performing arts field. In addition to myself was Debra Oppenheim, the co-founder of Phillips Oppenheim, an executive search firm that specializes in arts institutions. It was a terrific discussion that didn’t shy away from a number of really tough issues related to this topic.
No! Don't Cut The Donkey Sketch
In case you thought the whole relevancy and identity crisis was something new to the business then allow me to direct you to a video clip from a Steve Martin NBC special that aired 30 years ago (the donkey bit shows up at 2:20).
An Odd Turn Of Events In Colorado
It wasn’t all that long ago that mainstream media reports about the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO) were nothing but positive. The 4/13/2011 edition of the Denver Business Journal reported that the group was on the fast track to stability and success but fast forward barely five months later and the 9/10/2011 edition of the Denver Post published an article by Kyle MacMillan that reports the orchestra is in dire straits and could go under.
How To Comment Without Looking Like An Ass
Given the proliferation of contentious labor disputes over the past year, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that comments coming in to those respective articles can be filled with a great deal of passion and emotion. At the same time, those sorts of comments can be the primary reason behind making the respective author look like a thoughtless ass, which is probably not the sort of image they wanted to project.