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

Connect

The Time To Review Cybersecurity and Disruption Plans Is Now

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to make sure you’re as prepared as you can for disruptions to … Read more

Using Parkinson’s Law To Become A Better Manager

This series is designed to help those working in the arts and culture sector apply user experience (UX) best practices to daily … Read more

Using The Law of Common Region To Become A Better Manager

This series is designed to help those working in the arts and culture sector apply user experience (UX) best practices to … Read more

Using The Serial Position Effect To Become A Better Manager

This article is the first in a series designed to help those working in the arts and culture sector apply … Read more

Advocacy Alert: Contact The White House About Establishing A National Vaccination Status Program

As we begin the new year, I want to encourage everyone to contact the White House and encourage the administration … Read more

Why “Click Here” & “This Link” Are Choices To Avoid For Web And Email Links

Way back in 2016, ArtsHacker Phil Paschke wrote an article about why you want to begin moving away from using … Read more

GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress Data Breach And What You Should Do If It Impacts Your Organization

On November 22, 2021, GoDaddy informed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a security breach for 1.2 million users … Read more

A Sales Email Subject Line So Good You Have To Use It

Looking for a great sales email subject line that leverages buyer’s fear over supply shortages? If so, I have exactly … Read more

Is Facebook Not Sharing The Correct Info From Your Website?

Spoiler: it’s (mostly) not your fault. As if there weren’t enough reasons for Facebook to send content managers screaming into … Read more

Use This Chrome Shortcut To Open Multiple Bookmarks At Once

Every content manager routinely opens multiple browser bookmarks throughout the week. Sure, you can add each one to your bookmark … Read more

The Secret To Converting Paragraph Breaks Into Line Breaks And Creating Comma Separated Lists

Pretty much every arts administrator knows the pain of looking at a long list of content in a Microsoft Word … Read more

Do All Of Your Web Pages Have Conversion Goals?

Conversion goals are one of those odd things every arts marketer seems to know they need but for whatever reason, … Read more

The Status Of Required Vaccination Policies Among Nonprofit Performing Arts Orgs

The  Vax Policy Database has been gathering data since August 20, 2021 and it’s been adding new records daily. Over … Read more

Looking To The EEOC For Clarification On Religious Discrimination Vaccination Exemptions

Among the numerous details to work out when crafting required vaccination policies is when an employee cites religious objections and … Read more

Resource: Performing Arts Org Vax Policy Database

Insisting on verifiable vaccination status to attend concert events is becoming policy at an increasing number of nonprofit performing arts … Read more

Free 2021 Insta Profile, TikTok, YouTube Channel, Insta Stories, Facebook, and LinkedIn Company PSD Mockups

The folks at Kambadastudio recently released a round of new high quality photoshop templates for a wide variety of social … Read more

If Google Analytics 4 Feels Overwhelming, You’re Not Alone

It’s easy to look at the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboards and feel completely lost. For those who don’t … Read more

Another New SBA Funding Program You Should Be Aware Of (With A Bonus Resource Hidden Gem)

In early April, 2021 the U.S. Small Business Administration announced it was expanding the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL … Read more

Sold-Out Ticket Scams Start Hitting Social Media

Scammers haven’t wasted any time attempting to suck blood from the turnip of burgeoning performing arts org concert activity. The … Read more

Even More Reasons Web Accessibility Should Be On Your Radar

The folks at UsableNet have some news you need to hear. In December 2020 they published a report that shows … Read more