Archive - 2010

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #10
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #9
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #8
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #7
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #6
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #5
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #4
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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #3
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Why orchestra management is hard
10
The times they are a'changin…

Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #10

What a revelation it has been to experience the vast arts world, after my most recent 14 professional years totally immersed in the field of music (not all classical at Eastman).  During these years, because of the press of senior management and s…

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #9

For years, and I mean years, I prided myself on my being able to stay on top of advances in technology.  I saw it as an amazing tool to advance communications, increase efficiency, and provide creative possibilities for education in the arts.&nbsp…

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #8

I spoke to this task in 2 recent blog entries, to concern about the effects of government support.  Let’s make it a priority to re-examine our positions vis a vis government involvement.  We’ve really got to, as we’re on a slippery slope now….

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #7

Who makes iconography decisions in your arts organization?  If you are the leader, it better be you.  I have recently advised a number of student research papers that examine alignment between mission, program and iconography, and I’m appalle…

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #6

Let’s break down, get rid of the artificial barriers between not-for-profit arts and commercial arts.  This artificial designation does us no good, as it causes internal sector strife, and confusion and misunderstanding among the public.
There’s p…

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #5

Number 5 is short and sweet, like Five Golden Rings! 
Let’s practice what we preach.  Let’s approach our work with creativity, and with an appetite for risk.  Although my interpretation of his work may be over-simplified, Robert Pe…

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #4

This one will be no surprise to readers of this blog.  Let’s really work on exploring and then considering organizational designs other than the 501c3.  Yes, the 501c3 offers a number of seductive characteristics, but it is also expensive to …

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Ten Work Items for 2011, Task #3

Let’s make a commitment to creating and nurturing cooperative ventures, not just within our inner circles, or our comfort zones, but those that stretch us artistically and those that make our entities more efficient.
Face it: we’re very, very conservat…

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Why orchestra management is hard

Joseph Horowitz doubled down on his remarks about musician compensation in a later blog post (analyzed by Drew McManus here): If I sound unsympathetic to the musicians, it’s because I’ve heard one too many times the strident union litany blaming ignorant boards and incompetent managers. Running an orchestra is a thankless task. I’ve done it.[…]

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The times they are a'changin…

I went to my local Borders today to kill some time while a prescription was filled. It’s a bi-level store, but I hadn’t gone downstairs since last year this time, as it was mostly CDs and it’s been a long time since I could count on finding something I wanted to listen to on a[…]

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