Editor-In-Chief

Drew McManus

Arts Consulting

“I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired.”

Those were the first words out of an executive’s mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house. I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight.

So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals “aggressively embracing career change” but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why. In short, it doesn’t matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can’t keep your own clients out of the ground, and I’m fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I’ve done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

Technology

 but don’t let that title fool you into thinking he’s just a tech geek. He brings 20 years of global broad-based arts consulting experience to the table and helps clients break the cycle of choosing one-size-fits-none solutions and instead, deliver an option that allows them to get ahead of the tech curve instead of trying to catch up by going slower.

With the vision of legacy support strategy and the delights of creative insights, his mission is to deliver a sophisticated next generation technology designed especially for our business. The first step in that journey began in 2010 when he released The Venture Platform, a purpose-designed managed website development solution designed especially for arts organizations and artists.

His expertise spans across multiple sectors and regularly quoted as an industry expert in media outlets including New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and The Chronicle of Philanthropy along with more than 100 additional newspapers, trade journals, and magazine outlets. Broadcast appearances include NPR’s All Things Considered, NPR’s Weekend Edition and MPR’s Morning Edition

As a sought-after speaker and panelist, he has worked with  Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network, Opera America, Americans for the Arts, National Arts Marketing Project Conference, Southeastern Theatre Conference, National Performing Arts Conference, and Chamber Music America. He’s been a featured lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Bolz Center for Arts Administration, Northwestern University School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Arizona State University. In 2011, he was featured presenter for Chicago’s TEDx Michigan Ave conference.

For fun, he writes a daily blog about the orchestra business, provides a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, leads a team of intrepid arts pros to hack the arts, founded a free arts admin jobs board, and loves a good coffee drink.

Drew McManus Poise

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Ever Wish You Had A Do Not Disturb Light When Working From Home?

Since the onset of pandemic, arts admins have navigated the working from home rapids. One of the primary challenges is … Read more

Candidate Resumes Are Officially A Thing At Arts Admin Jobs

Now that job postings are returning to pre-pandemic levels at our sister site, Arts Admin Jobs, it’s time to launch … Read more

Quickbooks Rolls Out Fee Increase During Pandemic

Quickbooks sent users an email on 3/10/21 notifying them the ACH (Automated Clearing House) payment option that allows clients to … Read more

Top Level Navigation: To Click Or Not To Click

When it comes to designing your website navigation menu, you’ll eventually need to make one critical choice in the form … Read more

Get Into The Pronoun Groove With Zoom

As a member of Gen X, I’ll be the first to admit that incorporating pronoun use into my daily routine … Read more

Get Up And Running With Google Search Console

While Google Search Console (GSC) has always been a power tool every organization should use, it still manages to be … Read more

You Probably Have More Broken Links Than You Realize

Among the numerous pandemic driven content management tasks that are likely on your plate, checking your site for broken links … Read more

A Pandemic Driven Update To Business Holiday Cards

In 2018, I published an article that provided an option for creating a creative business card. Based on your feedback, … Read more

Why You May Want To Wait Before Upgrading To Google Analytics 4

You may have heard about the big Google Analytics 4 (G4) rollout a few weeks ago. No doubt about it, … Read more

Looking For A Decentralized Office Phone Solution?

Now that many organizations are vested in a remote workforce model, one of the logistical questions to consider is how … Read more

Are You Getting Google Search Console’s Monthly Performance Reports?

We haven’t talking about Google Search Console in a while, but it is still one of the best secret weapons … Read more

Please Don’t Ignore Me! Rethinking How We Design For Attention

In an age where arts organizations are learning how to re-engage patrons with remote activity, it never hurts to reexamine … Read more

It’s Time For An Admin User Audit

Even in non-pandemic times, scheduling regular admin user audits is a good idea. What we’re talking about is going through … Read more

An Easy Way To Limit URLs Allowed To Embed A Video

One of the more popular questions coming in from my Venture Platform users right now is how to embed a … Read more

Free Photoshop Template For Converting Images from Portrait Aspect Ratio To Landscape

We’ve all been there: you need images in landscape aspect ratio for digital content but all of your source files … Read more

Cross Pollinating Ideas About Moving Into The Realm Of Digital Experiences

There’s an excellent article in the 6/23/2020 edition of SmashingMagazine.com by Suzanne Scacca that examines the ways COVID-19 is forcing … Read more

Get The Right Microphone To Fit Your Needs

There’s a great article from Adam Molina on soundguys.com that walks you through all of the considerations for selecting a … Read more

If You’re Looking For An Easy To Use App For Scheduling Online Meetings, Check Out Vyte.in

For the longest time, I’ve used Doodle to schedule online meetings. It’s still a great tool but since Covid-19 shutdowns … Read more

Applying A Little Math And Science To Social Distancing Ticket Revenue

There’s a fascinating article (h/t Rainer Glaap) at ActivityStream.com that examines very positive results from efforts to science our way through maximizing revenue … Read more

Arts Admin State Of Employment Poll, Update 2

It’s been one month since we started asking readers to complete a short, two question survey designed to measure how … Read more