Adaptistration: About Drew McManus

Musician, manager, and cultural entrepreneur Drew McManus has been involved with every aspect of non profit performing arts and charitable organizations. He has become one of the most unique individuals in this industry who is trusted and respected by administrators, academics, board members, music directors, musicians, and union officials alike.

Mr. McManus is the proprietor and author of the highly successful new media outlet Adaptistration; the only weblog dedicated to issues about the orchestra business. In 2007 he founded the cultural blogging exchange InsideTheArts.com , which hosts more than eight popular culture oriented new media outlets that cover nearly every aspect of the performing arts.

Mr. McManus is regularly quoted as an orchestra business expert in traditional media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dallas Daily News, The Guardian Unlimited, and the Melbourne Age. Mr. McManus has been a guest on national radio programs such as NPR’s All Things Considered and WNYC’s Soundcheck.

As the founder and president of the Gynecologic Cancer Fund, he has a singular understanding of governance issues and six-figure development experience as an executive board officer. His charity has returned over 85% of gross proceeds to its beneficiaries since its establishment in 1998; the highest return of any 501(c) in the state of Maryland.

Mr. McManus is a conservatory trained musician from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD. He holds degrees in tuba performance as well as regular work on the piano, arranging, and conducting.

As an administrator Mr. McManus founded and served as the Executive Director for the Baltimore Virtuosi, Baltimore’s premier chamber orchestra, from 1998-2003. Since its inception he managed the organization to consistently operate in the black while never reducing its artistic budget. By approaching the business of orchestra management with flexible, revolutionary techniques that benefit all stakeholders, he has been able to “do more with less”.

From January, 2006 through January, 2007 he served as Senior Editor for Eastman School of Music’s Polyphonic.org project where his responsibilities included securing and creating original content for the website, developing and implementing the editorial strategy of the website, designing and implementing special website features as well as creating and moderating the ground breaking “Virtual Discussion Panel” format.

In 2005, Mr. McManus was among the first U.S. cultural administrators and journalists to spend more than a full week in Caracas, Venezuela as an official guest of the government to study the Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestras Juveniles e Infantiles, commonly referred to as “El Sistema,” which resulted in the first detailed series of articles in the U.S. highlighting the program and its accomplishments.

In the same year, hours after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast Region, Mr. McManus established an extensive relief effort at Adaptistration to aid displaced musicians. Over 300 offers providing shelter, direct aid, and work opportunities from across the country resulted in more than 60 musicians and managers finding temporary or long term solutions until they could return to their homes. Relief efforts featured in a Sunday edition of the New York Times and served as the subject of a special American Symphony Orchestra League emergency bulletin.

Working from an attitude that “there has never been a better time to be in the business”, Mr. McManus currently works as a performing arts consultant with a wide range of clients from orchestra administrations to orchestra players associations to for profit presenting organizations. When he isn’t working 10 hour days, Mr. McManus spends time with his wife enjoying everything Chicagoland has to offer, avoids cutting off his fingers while pursing his love for woodworking, keeping his coffee habit under control, and playing with his three cats; Carmen, Tosca, and Cody.

When he isn’t working 10 hour days, Mr. McManus spends time with his wife, avoids cutting off his fingers while pursing his love for woodworking, and playing with his three cats; Carmen, Tosca, and Cody.

You can find additional details about his consulting services at orchestraconsulting.com where you'll find an extended biography, philosophy on the business, and what he has to offer as an orchestra consultant and as a lecturer.