That Odor You Smell Is Disaster Blowing In The Wind

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As a board member, it’s difficult to get an independent assessment of the institution and its strategic direction during periods of labor distress. There’s a natural inclination to look inward and draw strength from colleagues while not letting too many outside voices become a distraction. Having said that, you know things might be getting out of hand when a marquee level voice starts questioning your strategic wisdom. Case in point, Riccardo …

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If There Was Ever A Time To Consider Loyalty Programs, It’s Now

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A recent post from Joe Patti examines a report from the Advisory Board for the Arts that found “while people may donate at a certain level to gain perks, taking away those perks won’t cause them to reduce their giving, by and large.” This is certainly good news for arts orgs in a post-COVID environment, but it also brings up some intriguing dynamic considerations that focus on generating the most revenue …

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AFM-EPF Tries Again

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The American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-PEF) continues to scrape along. Back in March 2020 they managed to settle a suit filed against Trustees that alleged poor management and unnecessarily risky investment strategies. Both sides have claimed victory in the suit, and the reality is the AFM-EPF agreed to a $26.85 million settlement. According to Deadline.com, $17 million of that will be paid by the Plan’s fiduciary insurers. …

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Creating Concert Programs Doesn’t Need To Be A Pain

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If you’ve ever been responsible for creating a concert program in Microsoft Word, you probably know how tricky it is to align everything in a way that conforms with traditional program layouts. The harder you try; the more elusive alignment becomes but you can’t figure out why. Here’s a tip to know when things start snowballing toward word processor hell: you’re using a lot of consecutive spaces. Fear not! There is …

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Shop Talk Guest and Episode Archives Are A Thing

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With 13 Shop Talk episodes recorded and more planned, it’s high time for some organization. To that end, there’s a dedicated landing page with links to the main episode archives, guest list with episode links, and a Last Call archive. It’s available 24/7 from the navigation menu under “Archives.” I’m very happy to see the series is growing in popularity with each new episode, so thank you for finding the content …

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