Did San Fran Just Do An M. Night Shyamalan?

According to an article by Janos Gereben in the 4/8/2013 edition of the San Francisco Classical Voice it appears that the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (SFO) may not be as close to an agreement as once believed. Gereben reports that neither the SFO nor the musicians have confirmed official approval of the tentative agreement that put the musician strike to an end last week; in fact, it appears that the musicians have postponed the requisite ratification meeting.
question mark

The first and only reliable information came in an e-mail Sunday evening, one week after announcement of the tentative agreement, in answer to a question to David Schoenbrun, president of Musicians Union Local 6, who apparently is not directly involved in the day-to-day talks. He wrote: “I just heard the rat. vote has been postponed — no new date that I know of, but hopefully within the week.”

Fortunately, SFS patrons and supporters have a little experience under their belt with the whole hurry up and wait approach.

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

Leave a Comment