Link Love Friday

It’s been a busy month. Adaptistration broke half a dozen traffic records over the past two weeks; between the most popular compensation reports to date and the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA) articles this week, it’s time for a brief day off. And by day off, I mean a quick link love post for other MOA oriented blog posts you may have missed.

ADAPTISTRATION-GUY-106
Whoever said “blogs are senseless and must be ignored” may want to reconsider.
  • Conductor Bill Eddins keeps breaking my budget with bandwidth overages thanks to his insightful and popular posts; the two most recent contributions; Why Bother… and Dear Governor Dayton are worthwhile reads.
  • The kind of all classical music writing, Alex Ross, has been weighing in on the MOA’s Domaingate in a series of posts.
  • Anastasia Tsioulcas managed to get some info from the MOA in response to Domaingate which she published in an article at npr.org. Suffice to say, the official reply does about as much good as the original Nixon responses to Watergate but don’t let that fool you into thinking the article isn’t a must-read.
  • Norm Lebrecht weighs in with some commentary that defines MOA executive administrator, Michael Henson, as “the moderately unsuccessful manager of two perpetually troubled UK orchestras”

Am I missing anyone?

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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10 thoughts on “Link Love Friday”

  1. “Beware, You Greedy Foxes” by Marie G. Cooney

    The administration of the Minnesota Orchestra should be ashamed of their cold, calculated, and malicious lock-out of musicians. It is quite obvious that the board of directors never intended to engage in open and fair negotiations with the musicians. It is very clear that the goal was to break the musicians’ union on both a local and national level, with the assistance of other gluttonous corporate leaders, who don’t give a damn about the many artists or their communities. It is terribly sad that greed for greater profits outweighs 110 years of steady growth of a tremendously talented orchestra.

    The Minnesota Orchestra is an exceptional group of talented musicians, built on personal and collective commitment to their artistry. Patrons of all ages have shared in their dedication and love of their music for decades. The people of Minnesota have also shown devotion to musical excellence through the support via our tax dollars.

    In one single year, decades of trust have been shatter. The musicians do not trust the board, who locked them out of their own home. The patrons do not trust the board, who received financial support for an upcoming season, which was never intended to be delivered. The tax payers do not trust the board, who stole our tax money with frivolous proposals, outrageous claims, and the construction of a state of the arts building, emptied of the artists and the patrons it was built to serve.

    Like the greedy fox, who thought he could out-wit the three little pigs, I hope you, who are members of the board, fringe your tails on the fires raging in the hearts and hearths of all those who support our beloved musicians! Run! Run with your tails on fire. Run far away from the MN Orchestra’s home! Run with your sizzling tails tucked between your legs, and don’t look back. We don’t want you here!

    We want OUR orchestra back, not the bankers, who banked on the orchestra’s destruction long before the lock out of the musicians happened and long before construction of their new home began. We want a new board of directors, who will rebuild the orchestra, as well as rebuild trust with the musicians; their local, national, and international patrons; and tax payers on all levels of government, who have already given so much in support members of the Minnesota Orchestra! Save Our Symphony in MN! We want them back!

    Sincerely,

    Marie G. Cooney of St. Paul MN

    IATSE, Local 13 Stagehands and Wardrobe

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