Take My Blog, Please

After next week, I’ll be away on a working vacation at the Grand Teton Music Festival and during that time, it’s become a bit of a tradition to feature some guest authors. I have a few lined up already but I want to expand on what we tried last year and offer an open invitation to one or more readers interested in being a guest author…

Guidelines for contributions are pretty straightforward:

  • Contributions should be no less than 400 words.
  • You need to have a Gravatar (details) and a max 100 word bio ready to go.
  • Keep your subject on topic; meaning about the orchestra business (not why you like Mahler or why you think Josh Bell is simply dreamy).
  • Your contribution belongs to you; I don’t take ownership of anything. You can reprint it or use elsewhere as desired.
  • You have to be willing to interact with any readers who post comments (answer questions, offer feedback, etc. In short, maintain the online conversation).
  • Have something ready for publication as early as Monday, August 8, 2011.

That’s it.

Everything else is limited only by your imagination and creativity. Do you have something to get off your chest, recognize a topic that is getting overlooked, or feel like indulging in an Andy Rooney style public rant? Have something to say about Detroit, Louisville, or Philadelphia? Need to tip your hat or wag your finger at a musicians’ issue?

Then this is your chance to have thousands of hungry culture blog consumers gobble up your every word.

Send me a note with your idea and we’ll see where it goes.

Submit Your Idea

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.

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