We need more donors, a plan to sustain ourselves, get more people involved, brand ourselves, win people over and yadayadayada….When arts groups get together to discuss their ills, lack of support, the community paying no attention to them etc… the argument comes around to forming a plan to turn things around and focusing on what we are not receiving, rather than what we are not giving. A plan for sustainability should start with creating something that is worth sustaining……
The Art of War……
Sometimes it’s really important to get a reality check. We spend so much time worrying about the state of the music industry that we forget that what we do is not the most important thing going on in the world. Yes, it’s important to us and our audience, and occasionally we have some little impact on the greater society, but there’s a lot going on out there in the real world. Yesterday was my reality check.
Don’t drop the baton!
I am answering the call of my co-author Bill regarding Gergiev’s concert. After the US team botched both 100 meter relays in Beijing, holding on to that baton is as important as running fast, so I’m going to tread carefully and with some help….
100 degrees and climbing
Music and politics. It is always dangerous when those two things mix, though one could argue that it’s dangerous when politics is mixed with anything. Over the weekend the news broke that one of the most famous musicians in the world decided to put these two things into a rather large blender and turn it on hi speed. The response from the rest of the classical music world has been stunning – as in a stunning silence.
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
Dante Alighieri
Time to reconnect!
This week my Audience Connections class starts up again at Drury University. It looks like I have 6 students and my hope is to use new media to make this a global class literally!….
Sticks and Drones started towards the end of course last year. I incorporated the students into the blog by posting their papers (here and here) and tagging posts that I thought applied to the class and the concept in the Audience Connection category.
Phoning it in!….
If you don’t yet have an iPhone/iPodtouch then you are still hearing the hype no doubt. I have the touch and if it’s possible I think Apple is ahead of the hype and the curve. How about the ultimate musician’s accessory, no joke….
Phone, IM, Email, Games, Browsing etc…all great stuff but what sets the gizmo apart is the application store. Sure there’s the bubble wrap program, the marble games, tons of silly apps and also great reference and info apps that all utilize the on-line capabilities as well as the accelerometer (tilt feature). For literary junkies (and for free) you can even get the complete works of Shakespeare!
Legacy
Donald Erb has died. I am saddened to hear about the passing of this very interesting American composer. I have the feeling that there is a certain passing of an era going on these days, and it’s confirmed by Mr. Erb’s biography. This is a “first generation” that is saying their last goodbyes, and I wonder if my fellow Americans realize how much this generation, and American music in general, owes to one woman.
Nashville: (Classical) Music City!
We often write about things that go spectacularly wrong. In Nashville it seems to be going spectacularly right! When I read about the NSO’s new marketing strategy for “young people”, I started to draw my sword. I’m not a believer in a strategy that is at best insincere and at worst untruthful, as it always seems to end up alienating a “young” audience and is discriminatory. Not so in Nashville….