Ahoy from the League offices in NYC
Happy new year everyone! I hope the holiday season was one of relaxation and enjoyment with family and friends. Personally, these past several days have been an absolute joy. Most importantly, I spent quality time with loved ones in the Chicagoland area. Also, I was able to visit some Music Festival colleagues in Aspen, ski down a few slopes, and even catch a couple of movies at the Aspen Academy Screenings.
Then, just yesterday, the Fellowship pace kicked back into full force as I packed my life into a very heavy bag and flew into New York City for a series of meetings, of which today is Day 1.
This series of NYC meetings, a staple of the Fellowship program for well over 20 years, has a few major purposes. First, we open these two weeks with the second of three leadership workshops led by John McCann of EMC.Arts. This workshop helps us reflect on lessons learned so far and teaches us how to focus on our core values as leaders moving forward the rest of the year and on into our careers. Next, we have several meetings lined up with top guns at orchestra management affiliate organizations such as publishing companies, musician unions, newspapers, presenting organizations, etc. From these meetings with affiliates, we will gain a better view of their practices and how those practices relate to orchestras. Also, over these two weeks, we three Fellows will attend and participate in several sessions of the League’s Essentials of Orchestra Management Academy which brings in a slough of top level management talent to give attendees a broad overview of the field. Finally, benefiting from both the presence of Essentials faculty and the culture magnet that is NYC, we will meet with several of the field’s orchestra management giants either over meals or in more formal settings.
Needless to say, these two weeks are absolutely packed and will be, from what I am told, the most intense and exhausting yet beneficial days of the entire year. Today, at the offices of the NY Philharmonic, Gary Hanson, Executive Director of the Cleveland Orchestra came and spoke with us through the lens of his vast experience about challenges facing today’s managers as part of our leadership workshop. Tomorrow after our daylong workshop with John, we will join Ari Solotoff (Fellow grad and ED of the Pensacola Symphony) and Peter Pastreich (arts consultant and former ED of the San Francisco Symphony) for dinner and conversation. Starting Wednesday, the madness really begins as we travel all over the city to meet with several people each day as well as catch concerts here and there. This then continues pretty much nonstop until next Friday when I fly back to Chicago and make the move to Memphis for assignment #2.
Well, that is the update for the moment. Stay tuned for more over the next two weeks!
Then, just yesterday, the Fellowship pace kicked back into full force as I packed my life into a very heavy bag and flew into New York City for a series of meetings, of which today is Day 1.
This series of NYC meetings, a staple of the Fellowship program for well over 20 years, has a few major purposes. First, we open these two weeks with the second of three leadership workshops led by John McCann of EMC.Arts. This workshop helps us reflect on lessons learned so far and teaches us how to focus on our core values as leaders moving forward the rest of the year and on into our careers. Next, we have several meetings lined up with top guns at orchestra management affiliate organizations such as publishing companies, musician unions, newspapers, presenting organizations, etc. From these meetings with affiliates, we will gain a better view of their practices and how those practices relate to orchestras. Also, over these two weeks, we three Fellows will attend and participate in several sessions of the League’s Essentials of Orchestra Management Academy which brings in a slough of top level management talent to give attendees a broad overview of the field. Finally, benefiting from both the presence of Essentials faculty and the culture magnet that is NYC, we will meet with several of the field’s orchestra management giants either over meals or in more formal settings.
Needless to say, these two weeks are absolutely packed and will be, from what I am told, the most intense and exhausting yet beneficial days of the entire year. Today, at the offices of the NY Philharmonic, Gary Hanson, Executive Director of the Cleveland Orchestra came and spoke with us through the lens of his vast experience about challenges facing today’s managers as part of our leadership workshop. Tomorrow after our daylong workshop with John, we will join Ari Solotoff (Fellow grad and ED of the Pensacola Symphony) and Peter Pastreich (arts consultant and former ED of the San Francisco Symphony) for dinner and conversation. Starting Wednesday, the madness really begins as we travel all over the city to meet with several people each day as well as catch concerts here and there. This then continues pretty much nonstop until next Friday when I fly back to Chicago and make the move to Memphis for assignment #2.
Well, that is the update for the moment. Stay tuned for more over the next two weeks!
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