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The arts to subsidize insurance industry profits?

Evidently the fact that nonprofits employ 10% or so of the US workforce has escaped the attention of those in Congress writing health care reform legislation: Nonprofit organizations say they are upset that Congress and the Obama administration have not addressed their rising health care costs in the various health care proposals being floated on[…]

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Let's Form a Union

This past spring I received an email signed by a dozen or so Eastman students. It was sent to Eastman School jazz students and faculty. This group had met out of frustration. It seems that within the student jazz community at Eastman, there has not been much discussion or communication between them about how to[…]

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Government subsidies, American-style

I know we don’t have much in the way of government subsidies for the arts in this country, but this is ridiculous: Officials with art and cultural groups in Philadelphia say they are angered by the state’s decision to expand state sales taxes to their businesses. Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance director Peggy Amsterdam said Pennsylvania[…]

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Debt is dangerous stuff

It appears that nonprofits have been emulating for-profit enterprises in some of the wrong ways: Far from being conservative stewards of their assets, many nonprofits engaged in what some experts call risky financial behavior. “They did auction-rate securities, interest-rate arbitrage, complex swaps — which backfired on them the same way it would backfire on any[…]

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Doing business with the Met

Buried in a long piece in the New York Times on the “new Met” were the following tidbits: Since Mr. Gelb took over, the Met budget has increased by about $60 million. The box office is up, but meanwhile personal and corporate donations, which the Met depends on to balance its budget, are down, thanks[…]

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Another orchestra for Lincoln Center

In ICSOM/AFM/Local 802 circles, the New York Philharmonic, Met Opera orchestra, NYC Opera orchestra, and NYC Ballet orchestra are known collectively as the “Lincoln Center orchestras” for obvious reasons. It appears that they’re about to have some company: Call it Cleveland on the Hudson: The Cleveland Orchestra is setting up a multiyear residency at the[…]

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In a world of hurt

A recent recent blog post by Philadelphia Inquirer critic Peter Dobrin contains the kind of analysis I wouldn’t want to read about any orchestra, much less one of our flagship bands: It’s a year today since Philadelphia Orchestra president James Undercofler announced his decision to not seek the renewal of his contract, and it’s been[…]

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From the Department of Great Headlines

I have a Google search for orchestra news that occasionally comes back with some… interesting results.

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Talk is cheap, and so are plans

A Grand Unified Theory of Arts Funding may be unveiled sometime in the medium future in Columbus: A long-awaited and often-promised blueprint for the arts in central Ohio could finally be in the offing. Arts, business and political leaders say an overall cultural plan for the community — outlining new strategies for funding sources, entrepreneurship[…]

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The most interesting conductor in the world

Dos Equis, the Mexican beer company, recently ran an ad campaign around a character they dubbed “The Most Interesting Man In The World” (my favorite ad was this one). It was, among other things, a take-off on how the press love to anoint individuals, or institutions, as the “best” or “worst” or “sexiest” or pretty[…]

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1
The arts to subsidize insurance industry profits?
2
Let's Form a Union
3
Government subsidies, American-style
4
Debt is dangerous stuff
5
Doing business with the Met
6
Another orchestra for Lincoln Center
7
In a world of hurt
8
From the Department of Great Headlines
9
Talk is cheap, and so are plans
10
The most interesting conductor in the world