My Audience Connection class attended the Springfield Symphony concert on Oct 18, a Big Band themed Pops concert. They were not there to review the concert, but to review the audience! The audience response was tremendous, as was the review in the paper. The students however did an internal eavesdrop poll with interesting results. Our discussion is in three parts below as well as some audio from the concert. I highly recommend every performing arts group do this kind of review!: (podcast 15 and 16 will be up Monday)
Ron Spigelman
Cultural Trust – Redistributing Wealth Missouri Style!
So when we at the Springfield Symphony (Missouri’s 3rd largest Orchestra) read the news last week regarding the ruling against the Kansas City Symphony’s lawsuit to restore funds into the cultural trust that were not put in during a certain period as the legislature felt the money at that time was needed elsewhere, our reaction was : Oh that’s right they filed a lawsuit! We had forgotten about it. Arts funding in Missouri has risen the last two years….under a Republican governor! I have a little insight into what happened and some personal experience with the whole thing including some interaction with the governor….
Collective Pride…and Two Soldiers Tales
From the road this week: I’ve seen many a promotional video at airports whilst waiting for a connection, with all of them letting me know that by continuing on to my destination instead of stopping over, I will miss out big time on the excitement of the city that lies beyond the airport walls. Now mostly they are pretty frenetic because they try to pack as much in as possible and I have seen several that include the orchestra of the city albeit for a few seconds. The one I saw this week was different and had a twist, plus I was inadvertently placed in two related poignant moments in two different cities …..
The Brady Effect!……
I saw Wayne Brady’s (of Who’s Line is it Anyway fame) show in Vegas this past May. He is one of the most talented people on the planet! What was most impactful to me was the pre-show, a video of Wayne explaining the audience rules for the show. It was hilarious, involving tranquilizer darts and karate moves, very creative and completely disarming. I challenged my class to look for examples online of organization’s audience etiquette policies…discussion below:
Drum Roll please………
Just a quick post to announce that the full podcast of my class Audience Connection is up and you can link to it here, or via the Audience Connection tab on the lower left. It is a left click listen or right click download at this point and 13 classes are up there right now. I will keep posting highlights in future posts and will note whenever a new class goes up (No. 14 later today). The first two classes are a little low in volume, it improves from class 3, and … Continue Reading
Columbus sails again…watch out for the headwinds!
It’s hard to be anything but pleased to hear of the Columbus Symphony returning after a prolonged and bitter battle. Sticking to their principals the orchestra was not downsized in personnel but there were many concessions that the musicians had to make, and one decision I hope is reversed, and what about Junichi?…..
Apathetique – The class challenges me!
On Wednesday we discussed the strikes at Shreveport and Wisconsin. My students read the articles and my post and it seems that there is a divide amongst them. There is nothing like lively debate especially amongst future arts administrators who might have to deal with big issues in difficult time such as these! The clips are below….
Apathetique……
Having read about the strike actions with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Shreveport Symphony, right and wrong is not the issue that concerns me right now, apathy and irrelevance might be the battle both organizations face in a time when momentous events are taking place….hey what’s the chance someone will bring up the Arts in a debate? I would say zero, and that neither surprises me or even bothers me….what to do in this case?…..