Always Nice To Be Recognized

Many thanks to Barry Hessenius for including Adaptistration in his recent post My 15 Favorite Nonprofit Arts Blogs. Also on the list is Joe Patti’s Butts In The Seats and having two listings from the same blogging exchange at Inside The Arts in Hessenius’s list was a wonderful treat.

Adaptistration Guy 005It is always gratifying to learn readers find value in the content and to that end, Adaptistration has always focused on providing content designed to promote public enlightenment by way of principles rooted in the exchange of information that is accurate, fair, and thorough. If you’re a journalist, that phrase likely sounds familiar since it is adopted from the Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) Code of Ethics.

Hessenius’ list is timely in that the SPJ’s code is something I’ve been discussing with culture blog colleagues (especially those from the veteran ranks) more and more over the past several months.

That’s a topic we’ll certainly explore in greater detail over the coming weeks but back to Hessenius’ article, the full list is simply terrific and it was good to be reminded of some outlets I used to visit but fell off my weekly radar such as Trevor O’Donnell’s Marketing the Arts to Death.

Given the sheer volume of culture blog options available these days, it is perhaps one more reason why those authors should consider offering something along the lines of a weekly email summary in addition to standard per-post notices and RSS feeds. I can say from experience that it is certainly a worthwhile endeavor from a return-on-investment perspective and I have no doubt that it regularly contributes to maintaining a high return readership rate.

Speaking of Marketing The Arts to Death, make sure you catch O’Donnell’s post from 12/17/2014. Titled Who The Hell Is Writing Your Copy? it examines some recent orchestra marketing copy from a beleaguered ensemble that is perhaps best described as the marketing equivalent of a self-inflicted wound.

Here is Hessenius’ full list (those marked with an asterisk are also on my regular reading list) and you can head over to his post for his insight into each offering.

  1. Createquity*
  2. Jumper*
  3. You’ve Cott Mail*
  4. Adaptistration
  5. Museum 2.0
  6. The Artful Manager*
  7. For What It’s Worth
  8. Butts in the Seats*
  9. Engaging Matters
  10. Marketing the Arts to Death*
  11. Arlene’s Blog
  12. Clyde Fitch Report
  13. Arts Blog
  14. Arts Journal*
  15. Nonprofit With Balls*

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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