Categories
administration the orchestra world union

are unions to blame?

Michael Kaiser has a brief commentary in the June 6 edition of Huffingtonpost.com, where he asks if the musicians’ union is in fact what is wrong with the current orchestra model in the U.S. He doesn’t think that this is so, and lays much of the blame back on bad managers:

I have been surprised (and dismayed) to see how many arts organizations handle their donors, manage their special events and treat their board members. One arts manager I met told me that her organization never communicates with its donors except for writing them once a year and asking for their annual contribution! I recently went to a board member event for one organization where the board members were left to fend for themselves as the staff members sat and drank and ate! Another arts executive told me on several occasions how he “hates his board members and wishes they would go away!”

And then they are surprised when their levels of contributions fall.

Read the whole commentary here. [Thanks to Drew at Adaptistration.com for pointing out this article]

 

%d bloggers like this: