There’s a Downside To Success

Simply put, business is booming. Back in January I published an article about the growth going on within The Venture Platform segment of my business and since then, the rate of increase has only picked up; moreover, a similar uptick in non-tech related consulting work kicked in shortly after the New Year. The only downside to this is a reduced amount of time to dedicate toward some of the long standing annual segments here at Adaptistration.

ADAPTISTRATION-GUY-010Consequently, I’m going to have to officially let the fields go fallow for 2014 on the annual orchestra website reviews as well as the Take A Friend To The Orchestra (TAFTO) projects. Having said that, it’s not all frowny faces as the annual compensation reports are on track to be published in June, especially since we won’t be relaunching the Orchestra 990 Database Project Kickstarter until the fall.

I genuinely apologize to everyone who has been writing in asking when the orchestra website reviews are coming, although the reviews and TAFTO mean a great deal to the blog as a whole, the website reviews will always hold a special place in my blogging heart. Consequently, every effort will be made to get them back up for next season.

But perhaps most importantly, the decision to put a few projects go on sabbatical doesn’t mean we’re phoning it in, quite the contrary. There’s a good upcoming tech post on the increasing development gap between web and box office providers that will be an Advance Token To Boardwalk style read to make sure you don’t get caught on the wrong side of the fence.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for making this one of the best culture blogs around; ultimately, it’s the readers that make an outlet great.

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