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Even More STATisfying! – part 2

Yesterday I wrote of our 80%+ concerts that are free of charge, today I want to take my hat off to the biggest donor group (outside of our board) so far this season.  This is another stat that made us very proud, and it was also a surprise to them!  They are……..

Very STATisfying! – part 1

It’s about Artistic excellence, We want to be the best orchestra this side of the…(insert iconic river or Great Lake here!), We’ve practiced, practiced, practiced…now we want to go to Carnegie Hall.  How many times do you hear how great an Executive and/or Music Director wants their orchestra to be, but what does great actually [...]

Adjusting the Seasonings in Salt Lake! – Time to Make a Play!

The Utah Symphony and Opera have been rescued by a very large gift which is great news.  A couple of articles about their situation got me thinking more about community outreach and how the tangible resonance of a hall  needs to be matched with the resonance felt within and even beyond our communities.  More importantly [...]

Hope for the Next Decade: A Call to Arts!

Community Outreach was the catchall category of the last decade in the Orchestra world, and has become so non defined that we take for granted that it’s happening at every orchestra.  It most certainly isn’t just because the words are used.   It is time to define it for real, give it real teeth and [...]

Two Takes – Entrepreneurship and Michelle Obama’s Speech

My class brings current blog posts and/or articles to debate, 3 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday.  In the clips below first Mackenna and I discuss the perception of what an entrepreneur is from an article by David Cutler, author of the soon to be released Savvy Musician.  Then 3 of them on Tuesday brought [...]

How about Savvy Music Schools?

The Savvy Musician, a book by Dr. David Cutler comes out in November.   There is some publicity being generated about the book’s upcoming release and the potential impact it might have on those musicians seeking careers in non traditional venues.  I haven’t read it (advanced copies are available) but an article about it raises some [...]

Is it time for the Revolution?

Newsflash – Endowments are down the toilet; Arts orgs. are laying off people at record pace; donations are down; the NYCity Opera got sold a bag of rotten turnips; ponzi scheems are playing havoc with donors; orchestras/dnace companies/opera companies/etc. are folding ……… Folks, is it time for the next Revolution?

Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – Opposite World!…..

Two articles jumped out at me over the weekend.  Both reminded me of the constant tail chasing that goes on in the arts world.  Sometimes we get so far behind our audience’s needs, that we end up doing either what we should have been doing all along but a little too late, or the opposite [...]

In order to move forward, first you must “retreat”….plus handing the keys to the musicians!

We had Drew here this week for the purpose of beginning the process to re-structure our organization to be ready for the future.  Being that we are in a strong position and not in crisis makes this the perfect time for that process.  In other words, rather than waiting for the fires to start, we are attempting to [...]

Lie to Me!…..

We all have our favorite TV or Radio shows that we watch or listen to regularly, whether they be a guilty pleasure, relaxation, passing time in the car etc…One of the best shows of the TV season was the Fox show “Lie to Me” and in the very intense season finale Dr. Cal Lightman played [...]

Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – When Blank Checks Have No Value!

With hand wringing over empty seats and the “papering” arts organizations do to make a hall look respectable, the phrase “not worth the paper it’s written on” comes to mind.  There is a golden opportunity to empower the audience to help recruit new audience members with a free ticket and/or referral program…..

Not a failure to Launch, but a failure to Lunch!…except in Hawaii…

Vitriol, court actions and labor disputes abound in the orchestra world.  Every situation is complicated, different and/or unique in many ways.  There is one constant that links them all and that is a failure to communicate directly.  Unscrambled eggs anyone…….