An Update On The White House Petitions To Save The NEA/NEH

Since last week’s post pointing out potential problems with the White House petitions requesting that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) not properly registering signatures, it seems that some registrations are being recorded (h/t Brian Wise).

Adaptistration People 174As of Sunday afternoon (2/5/17), one petition has 65,239 signatures while the other has 13,312.

Personally, I find the former petition to be the better of the two but adding your name only takes moments so there’s really no reason not to sign both. If you haven’t done so yet, head over and add your name.

Although signatures are clearly being recorded, that doesn’t necessarily mean the system is working properly. To that end, I’m curious to know if anyone else is experiencing the sorts of discrepancies we examined last Tuesday or if your votes are being recorded.

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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