Concert Hall Postlude

I was thrilled to see fellow AJ blogger James Russell publish a piece about concert halls in his weblog today. He provides a bigger picture view of this bizarre dance entitled building a concert hall.  All in all, it’s an excellent postlude to the concert hall piece that recently finished here.


I’ve enjoyed reading James’ articles since his weblog started a few weeks ago.  I have to say that in the past year alone I’ve learned so much about so many different forms of art in the ArtsJournal blogs than I have in the past five years.


I’ll be away from a computer for a few days after tomorrow, but look for a whole round of engaging topics that center on the heart of the problems in this industry and solutions that are emerging during the weeks to come.  Exciting stuff!


So what are you still doing here reading this? Go give James’ article a read

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

Related Posts