Editorial Cartoon: Award Time

February 19, 2013 |

Adaptistration’s editorial cartoonist, Paul Dixon, decided the field needed a new award to help validate advances in new model thinking. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll leave it at that.

And just for fun, if this wasn’t fictional satire, who would you vote for?

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, and love a good coffee drink.

View all posts by Drew McManus →

Connect With Drew

Atlanta Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO

This Is The End My Friends

Indianapolis Begins Filling In The Holes

19 Responses to Editorial Cartoon: Award Time

hvs February 19, 2013 at 9:51 am #

I dunno – It’s hard to top the Atlanta Symphony hiring armed security guards to keep musicians away from the Woodruff Ctr during the lockout. That’s straight out of the Ford River Rouge School of Labor Relations.

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NYMike February 19, 2013 at 11:46 am #

Other than the two presenters, are any of the candidates graduates of the LAO’s school of recycled administrators?

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- minnfiddler February 19, 2013 at 6:50 pm #
  
  Dobson West is a recycled board chair turned administrator, go figure!
  
  Reply
Amy February 19, 2013 at 4:23 pm #

Well, Henson’s managed symphony orchestras around the world…meaning Bournemouth, Ulster AND Minneapolis. Song of the Lark has a good visual on his career. http://songofthelark.wordpress.com/2013/01/

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Song of the Lark February 19, 2013 at 5:02 pm #

hvs, how do you know that Michael Henson hasn’t hired security guards…to guard himself? There’s a reason WCCO reported that legislators are concerned that the Minnesota Orchestral Association has spent state dollars on “security.” http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/12/20/lawmakers-call-for-hearing-into-minn-orchestra-finances/ I’m guessing the only reason that Henson hasn’t hired security to guard the hall is because it’s under construction. I fully expect armed guards to be posted once the hall re-opens on September 28, 2013, when management still hasn’t offered a respectful contract to musicians, and Bill Cosby, not the Minnesota Orchestra, opens the renovated Orchestra Hall, much,to the anger of rowdy patron picketers. If you think I’m being satirical…….. http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/events-a-tickets/browse-calendar/eventdetail/288/-/- By that time, Mr. Henson will have taken about $400,000 in donors’ dollars for presiding over an orchestra…that won’t have played a single note under his auspices for over a year.

Of course everyone who has been following the meltdown in the Twin Cities knows how deeply I love Michael Henson, so the least I can do is to help him win this award. His hard-hearted arrogance, ethical slipperiness, general incoherence, love for lobbies, palpable disdain for both patrons and the press, and eager willingness to serve as Jon Campbell and Richard Davis’s posh little English puppet all helped to jump-start my career as a music writer. And for that I’ll be forever grateful. So thanks, Michael Henson, for the memories. Hope you win the award! Cheers!

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- NYMike February 20, 2013 at 12:08 am #
  
  Now tell us how you really feel :-)
  
  Reply
  - Song of the Lark February 20, 2013 at 9:47 am #
    
    Oh, believe you me I would, but I know that Drew is a better wiser human being than me and would delete the comment before it ever saw the light of day, so… ;)
    
    Reply
    - NYMike February 20, 2013 at 11:06 am #
      
      Yeah, Drew made me change my original post on this thread :-)
      
      Reply
      - Drew McManus February 20, 2013 at 11:19 am #
        
        I beleive it may be alternatively defined as “offered an opportunity to reconsider the value of a revised sumission.” ;)
  - Elizabeth Erickson February 20, 2013 at 8:20 pm #
    
    Here’s how I feel in MN. I have a knot in the pit of my stomach that is always there. I’ve had it since Oct. 1. Way back last spring, a friend of mine associated with the orchestra was telling me what seemed to be crazy things that she felt would happen. At the time I thought is might be an exaggeration. Unfortunately, I now know that she was spot on in her predictions. I’ve never seen this kind of destruction caused by so few.
    
    Reply
- Elizabeth Erickson February 20, 2013 at 12:02 pm #
  
  At the MN orchestra info meeting that I attended, Michael Henson said his wife had been threatened. I found this very odd. I would think most people would just feel sorry for her
  
  Reply
  - Drew McManus February 20, 2013 at 1:33 pm #
    
    Thank you for sharing this Elizabeth, do you recall when and where this meeting took place?
    
    Reply
    - Elizabeth Erickson February 20, 2013 at 8:00 pm #
      
      yes, it was at an info meeting on January 16th of this year in downtown Minneapolis. I really didn’t know what to make of it. I had heard some time ago, via MN orchestra musicians, that Michael Henson had a body guard but it seemed strange to be announcing this to a room full of patrons.
      
      Reply
  - pamina58 February 21, 2013 at 9:18 pm #
    
    Did he say by whom? Or was everyone supposed to infer? :-0
    
    Reply
Susan February 21, 2013 at 1:56 pm #

Sorry to say I vote for West because I think he is the only one who will be “successful” in completely destroying his orchestra.

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Cyndi Blumberg March 2, 2013 at 3:40 am #

Fraud is grounds for deportation. I’m just sayin…

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- pamina58 March 3, 2013 at 10:40 am #
  
  @Cindy Blumberg said, “Fraud is grounds for deportation. I’m just sayin…”
  
  Hmmm…does that mean we should start a petition (eg Piers Morgan)?
  
  Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Help Michael Henson Win An Award! | Song of the Lark - February 19, 2013
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Putting Michael Henson Under the Microscope | Song of the Lark - March 1, 2013
[...] C.E.O., seems determined to put his foot in it.” Orchestra blog Adaptistration ran a “Most Bush League CEO” competition, which Henson won by a country mile (as of this writing, with 77% of the [...]