{"id":107,"date":"2009-05-18T18:24:20","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T18:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp\/2009\/05\/a_new_artsjournal_blog_1\/"},"modified":"2009-05-18T18:24:20","modified_gmt":"2009-05-18T18:24:20","slug":"a_new_artsjournal_blog_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/a_new_artsjournal_blog_1.html","title":{"rendered":"A New ArtsJournal Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"adriansp.gif\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/adriansp.gif?resize=120%2C114\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;\" height=\"114\" width=\"120\" \/><\/span>I&#8217;m very happy to announce the latest ArtsJournal blog, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/creatived\">Creative Destruction<\/a>, by orchestra conductor John Dodson. I met John last summer while I was working on a story for <i>Symphony<\/i> magazine on new ways of running orchestras. John is music director of the tiny Adrian Symphony in Adrian, Michigan, pop. 21,703. In the past seven years he&#8217;s remade the orchestra with executive director Susan Hoffman (now at the Cleveland Orchestra) with some pretty radical ideas.<\/p>\n<p>The orchestra went from losing money and playing in empty halls to being the toast of the town and full houses. From that story [sadly not online]:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On average, the orchestra sells ninety percent of its available seats, and executive director Susan Hoffman says statistics show that over the course of a season an astonishing 31 percent of the town&#8217;s residents come to at least one of the orchestra&#8217;s programs (the industry average is 2.5 percent)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>They constructed an informal concert series around the<br \/>\nwish-list of a single regular guy. They broke up their concerts into eight<br \/>\ndifferent genres and made sure that the look and feel for each genre were<br \/>\ndifferent. Every concert got something added on. Discovering, for example,<br \/>\nthat<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>there was no place to eat after<br \/>\nchamber music concerts, they set up free food in the lobby and saw attendance<br \/>\ngo from 35 to 350. A pops series featuring Broadway show tunes includes<br \/>\nopportunities to meet the performers.<span style=\"\">&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>This orchestra loves a good party and takes advantage of every<br \/>\nopportunity to throw one. <\/p>\n<p>As the venues filled up, concert-goers began calling for<br \/>\ntickets earlier and earlier. The average age of the audience dropped by &#8220;about<br \/>\ntwo decades.&#8221; Business sponsorships increased 50 percent, the number of<br \/>\nindividuals giving money to the orchestra soared, and the budget jumped to<br \/>\n$540,000. The orchestra started rewarding its most loyal followers with cards<br \/>\nthey could give to friends that offered them free tickets. Who better to sell<br \/>\nyour orchestra than those who are its biggest fans?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There&#8217;s a lot that larger arts organizations could learn from the way Adrian does business. John&#8217;s a thoughtful guy who thinks through his strategies in interesting ways. I&#8217;m thrilled to have him join ArtsJournal to share some of those ideas. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m very happy to announce the latest ArtsJournal blog, Creative Destruction, by orchestra conductor John Dodson. I met John last summer while I was working on a story for Symphony magazine on new ways of running orchestras. John is music director of the tiny Adrian Symphony in Adrian, Michigan, pop. 21,703. In the past seven [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-1J","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/04\/a_bad_orchestra_story_and_a_ca.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":0},"title":"A Bad Symphony Orchestra Story (And A Cautionary Tale?)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A dreadful story coming out of the Phoenix Symphony. And I hear the orchestra is asking for major salary concessions from the musicians.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1151,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/some-of-our-orchestras-seem-to-be-thriving-is-this-a-new-trend.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":1},"title":"Some Of Our Orchestras Seem To Be Thriving &#8211; Is This A New Trend?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There's been a change in the news coming out of symphony orchestras over the past summer. Usually there's a background drumbeat of struggle as orchestras fight to stay alive. But for months now, the beat has shifted, and we're hearing about orchestras that are not only surviving but thriving. Yes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;arts and business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"arts and business","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Stlouisso.jpg?fit=800%2C213&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Stlouisso.jpg?fit=800%2C213&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Stlouisso.jpg?fit=800%2C213&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Stlouisso.jpg?fit=800%2C213&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":988,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/whos-telling-your-story-storytellers-are-our-leaders.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":2},"title":"Who&#8217;s Telling Your Story? (Storytellers Are Leaders)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week the Brooklyn artist space National Sawdust\u00a0announced it had hired away Steve Smith from the Boston Globe to start an ambitious new culture journal. Smith is a former NYTimeser, a serious journalist, and an ambitious hire. So why? According to Smith: Our new journal initiative is not meant to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ideas","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/ideas"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sawd.jpg?fit=700%2C289&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sawd.jpg?fit=700%2C289&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sawd.jpg?fit=700%2C289&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sawd.jpg?fit=700%2C289&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2563,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2022\/04\/this-weeks-undertow-why-are-police-playing-disney-songs-and-why-did-this-orchestra-fire-it-conductor-for-conducting.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":3},"title":"This Week&#8217;s UnderTow: Why are Police Playing Disney Songs? And Why did this Orchestra Fire its Conductor for&#8230; Conducting?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's podcast of The UnderTow, ArtsJournal's new weekly podcast, features three stories from the past week. Sometimes stories are not exactly about the things they seem to be about at first look.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/podcast"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/architecture-gf15a314ff_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/architecture-gf15a314ff_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/architecture-gf15a314ff_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/architecture-gf15a314ff_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C582&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1222,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/11\/this-weeks-aj-highlights-ominous-orchestra-results-new-arts-journalism-accountable-algorithms.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":4},"title":"This Week&#8217;s AJ Highlights: Ominous Orchestra Results? New Arts Journalism? Accountable Algorithms?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"November 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: Record ticket sales at the Chicago Symphony but still a budget problem...Wall Street Journal cuts arts coverage and Boston Globe gets a subsidized critic...Why did Shakespeare's Globe fire its director?...Two cities on opposite sides of a border, share common arts culture... Who will hold intelligent machines accountable? An\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weekly AJ Top Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/thompson.jpg?fit=500%2C271&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1317,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2017\/02\/join-us-today-for-a-livestream-today-artistic-leadership-in-a-border-city.html","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":5},"title":"Join Us Today For A Livestream: Artistic Leadership In A Border City","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on Joe Horowitz's essay\u00a0Lincoln Center Snapshot: Bing, Bernstein, and Balanchine Fifty Years Later\u00a0and the five responses to his provocation, we're in El Paso, Texas today for a conversation about artistic leadership in a city literally divided in two - El Paso, Texas on one side of a border fence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weekly AJ Top Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utep-preview-card.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utep-preview-card.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utep-preview-card.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utep-preview-card.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}