What Philadelphia really needs is a Chief People & Culture Officer
NewsThe Philadelphia Orchestra already has a Vice President of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Strategies. Her name is Doris Parent.
She is now joined by Judia Jackson, who will be Chief People & Culture Officer across both the orchestra and the Kimmel Center.
Her USP?
A skilled leader in her field, Judia has experience across a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, hospitality, energy, human capital management, retail, technology, and more. She has ties to the Philadelphia region, having worked for the Campbell Soup Company for several years.
My experience with orchestras (not Philly, but others in the US personally and from talking with colleagues) is that the culture really can be toxic right now and morale is at an all-time low two years since the pandemic started. Staffing was severely cut and has not been close to being restored even as the workload has come back up to support a pre-pandemic season (and whatever digital add-ons we all came up with recently.) People expecting raises or promotions going into 2020 for their personal career track are still waiting. Meanwhile ticket revenue is still down raising the temperature in the building, and board-approved 5 year recovery plans are written around keeping headcount and raises low for years to come in part reacting to lower ticket sales and what debts they incurred during the shutdown.
So with all that said, this position looks to be what used to be the head of HR. On the one hand, that new title might suggest that they recognize these needs and want to bring in someone who can help improve that morale and work out retention needs. On the other hand, adding more senior roles (rather than maybe combining DEI with HR), could just really piss staff off as they feel like that top level headcount could have been used on several coordinators or managers who get the work done.
Presumably her work at Campbells qualifies her to double in the orchestra canteen as a Soup-ervisor?
More pertinent, from her work in pharmaceuticals she will probably know all about creating cultures.
Further down I posted a question before anything else had been put up. Returning, when the posts have been activated, I see some very good answers to my question.
In response to your comment, I once saw an executive from a similar background (some big retail company) appointed as head of marketing. Our first reaction was jokes of the sort you made.
But in fact she was a breath of fresh air in a very insular and entitled-feeling orchestra. She immediately made customer service a priority, and my first thought was, why wasn’t it before? (And it certainly never had been). The artsy senior execs all paid lip service to this new policy and continued to change nothing.
She wanted, for instance, refunds to be an option in the face of major changes in programming or guest conductors or principals; declined. The best they could get were exchanges or a credit that had to be used within the season — the latter impractical late in the season for most and at any time in the season impractical for many.
After a few similar suggestions, from smaller subscription packages to earlier start times to some lower-price options, all declined, she packed it in after a couple of years. The culture of the orchestra remained stagnant, especially in relation to customer service.
In the fullness of time, most of her suggestions were indeed adopted (not refunds, but others). But I remembered her banging her head against the brick walls of a corporate branch well devoted to classical music but with no idea how to run an orchestra successfully.
This lady might, given what others have suggested her role might entail, be a valuable asset with a rather silly title.
I always disliked the term human resources. Never saw anything wrong with personnel, really.
She needs to know applicable laws and internal/external regulations regarding managing staff. She has to be aware of (and possibly influence) internal policies concerning disputes and their resolution. Most importantly she has to protect the employer when personnel problems occur as is the case with any HR person in the US. Any issues with the musicians will be mediated through their union.
Her counterpart at NASA isn’t and doesn’t have to be an astronaut.
What dull news on this cold COVID day!
No note about Philip Glass (surviving) at 85 today ?!
Isn’t there enough misery on this site?
For some of us, there is never enough misery.
She won’t be getting her salary from me. Due mainly to their movement in the direction of being an exceedingly woke institution – with a minor assist from Covid and the havoc it was wrecking on their schedule – I’ve already dropped my long-time subscription and wouldn’t make a donation to the Orchestra with a gun to my head.
Ewww, racist much???
That’s a nasty tick, you’ve got
You forgot to use the word “woke” in this comment.
Relax. This is an administrative position for the business side of the house. Benefits, hours, Jerry is microwaving fish in the break room again. That kind of thing.
The (absentee) music director, Board, and others acceptable to you are still very much in charge.
“Diversity is excellence” — Matías Tarnopolsky, President & CEO, Philadelphia Orchestra (cited in City Journal, Summer 2021)
Orwell eatcha heart out…
I’ve seen you post snarkily about these kinds of positions so many times, as though it’s part of some vast progressive conspiracy. It’s not. It’s just part of the operations of an organization.
It’s an HR position. Orchestras are art-makers, but they’re also employers (of artists, administrators, and operations teams). I’m not going to dispute that it’s an annoying/precious title (“Chief People and Culture Officer), but it’s not because of what you seem to think is some DEI conspiracy. These kinds of titles exist for HR jobs because – across industries – companies struggle with how to make HR (which is a lot of recruitment, contracts, professional developments, etc.) seem less corporate so that it doesn’t alienate staff; institutions want to make it feel like it’s a department that’s there to support staff, not to protect the institution. It can also be pretty dehumanizing to be labelled – simply – a “human resource.” So organizations make up different titles to try to account for that.
In a performing arts organization the head of HR is often the person with the least background in an arts organization and that’s HELPFUL, because their job is not to essentialize the arts (which all us art wonks will do on our own), but instead to bring best practices for running a sustainable workplace from across industries, to know the law, and to bring knowledge that isn’t just from the insider career path. (The same is true of a VP of Finance) Bringing in great people who didn’t come up squarely through a classical music pipeline can help make classical music institutions stronger – both through knowledge of alternative systems and practices AND (gasp) by highlighting some of the ways that the systems of a classical music organization might be better built to support employees (staff, administrators, operations teams, and musicians) of different backgrounds INCLUDING through DEI principles.
Looking at the Philadelphia Orchestra’s staff list, their HR department is TINY relative to the size of the organization, and HR departments (especially in the time of COVID/remote work) are INCREDIBLY overtaxed these days. I’m glad that department will get more support and Ms. Jackson seems fantastic. A VP of DEI strategies (The other position you mention) does a very different (and, in my opinion, vital) job – though I imagine those two positions will work closely with one another.
Your reductive reporting on this often misses that the musicians who perform on stage are the tip of the iceberg at these organizations.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
When an orchestra is run, on a day-to-day basis, by people ignorant of the content of the organisation: the music, and its position and meaning within society, the result will be that decisions which affect the final result of all of the work of every member of the organisation – players, staff, etc. – will be dominated by considerations which have nothing to do with music. This mostly goes entirely unnoticed, and results in the dependence of players, conductors, soloists (the people eventually ‘delivering the goods’) on what non-musical people think is best. Players and conductors will be ‘in the service’ of the organisation instead of the other way around, and the idea that a musical institution is there to serve the community with and for art is changed, unintentionally, into the idea that the organisation is there to serve the community and by chance it happens to be some art form but which will be at the bottom of the prioirity list.
I have often experienced in my contacts with orchestra staff a level of ignorance which would be entirely unacceptable in any other profession – imagine bank employees totally indifferent to money and its meaning within society. Grocers who would rather be somewhere else than looking after their vegetables will quickly go bust, and school teachers who know nothing of their own courses will quickly be thrown-out. Dimplomas, degrees and legal regulations protect patients from amateur dentists. But in music life, there is so much ignorance that one is surprised it is still there at all.
In my dog years I have worked a couple of years at international music managements and it was quite disheartening to see how important decisions were made entirely separated from the art form, including by well-known conductors and soloists. It was money, position, wrapping paper (also for the orchestras), and lots of office scenes ripe for SNL sketches.
” …and school teachers who know nothing of their own courses will quickly be thrown-out.”
Clearly you haven’t been paying attention to personnel policies in public education. Far more often than hearing of a teacher who’s been terminated, we hear of teachers who continue to be on the payroll even if they’ve been removed from the classroom.
Her USP is one thing. Bit what is she FOR? I’d be more interested in her job description.
Well, but that is clear: to BE there, as a reassuring presence.
Like an emotional support animal. I’m willing to bet she’s never attended a classical concert or opera performance in her entire life.
It is not impossible that this was considered one of her greatest assets in the negotiations.
“Human capital management” sounds suspect….actually, rather scary.
This is the definition of insanity.
What EXACTLY does a Chief People and Culture Officer actually do?
Such a Culture Officer handles problems with Chief People when they get into fusticuffs.
Probably drives to work and then wokes around the office all day.
It’s just another name for “Director of Human Resources.” Lots of orgs are making this change in nomenclature. Not a big deal.
Based on my experience at the company for which I worked for many years, it’s a very big deal. The name itself isn’t the point. It’s what the departments that used to be called “Human Resources” are doing now. It’s nothing like the role that such departments used to play and it’s very much a part of what’s turned us into a nauseatingly woke country.
what next do they need. a priest. a rabbi.
No, an exorcist to drive-out the demons which threaten to destroy the organisation from within. Nowadays, only the Roman Catholic Church offers such services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_in_the_Catholic_Church
What’s human capital management?
It is the way in which human capital punishment is categorised for staff, relating to their misdeeds.
I may be wrong about this but the title “Chief People Officer” — which many organizations are using these days — seems to be a fancy way of saying what used to be “Director of Human Resources.”
That’s all well and good. My question is: does Doris like Classical Music? Even a bit? That’s a problem in the US today: so many highly (over?) paid management types in orchestras don’t have a passion for great music.
Just the new term for Human Resources which used to be called Personnel.
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/chief-receptionist-officer-title-inflation-hits-the-c-suite/
I’ve noticed a really significant change in programming with the major symphony orchestra near me. I’m sure its not the only one. Is the new programming selling tickets and attracting donors? For a concert goer who wants to hear: Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky, there is nothing available.
It’s the result of music being at the bottom of the priority list.
The Left’s Gleichschaltung continues apace. They won’t be satisfied until they have their political commissars installed in every area of life. The want total control.
Only by total control will people be free – they no longer need to think.
“People and culture” is another term for human resources or personnel. It’s been in relatively common use for some years. So, in effect, she’s the head of HR: an entirely unremarkable appointment.
Not sure why you get so hot under the collar about behind-the-scenes appointments anyway. Musical organisations need to employ more than just musicians.
The challenge is to hire people with understanding and love of the content of the organisation: music, and who are able to keep it at the centre of their reflections about work.
The social dichotomies in the Philadelphia metro area are appalling. The suburban region known as the Mainline has one of the greatest concentrations of wealth on the planet, while massive regions of the city have some of the worst ghettos in the world. Philadelphia has 180,000 people living in deep poverty (defined as less that $10k/yr for a family of four) that includes 60,000 children. In reality, these ghettos define a dehumanizing racial caste system.
A Mayor’s report from a few years ago found that Philadelphia has 14,000 abandoned buildings in a dangerous state of collapse, 31,000 trash-strewn vacant lots, 60,000 abandoned autos, and has lost 75,000 citizens in recent years. This is the larger context which cultural institutions and spiffed-up city centers gloss over with a superficial façade of fake democracy and social responsibility.
Regions such as the south Bronx, Watts, East St. Louis and Detroit, just to name a few, show that Philadelphia is hardly an exception. The populations living in our dehumanizing ghettos are measured in the tens of millions.
We must recognize that the problems with arts funding in America are closely related to the same socio-political forces that have caused the country to neglect its urban environments. This naturally leaves many Europeans wondering why America is so intent on exporting its economic and cultural models.
I really hope that the Philadelphia Orchestra can find a way to solve these problems and create more diversity in classical music, but one must face the sober reality that the social problems created by these issues are systemically inherent in the USA’s system of government and economics. One can’t clear a pool of water fed by a muddy river. Truly effective solutions can only be found through massive reforms at the foundations of our social thought and government. It will probably be some generations before this happens.
All of this is entirely plausible and understandable. It has something absurdist about it to have a high art institution in a city which looks like Mumbai.
Philadelphia has been run by Democrats, in particular black Democrats, for many years. They’ve done nothing to solve the problems you describe. Somehow though Philly found millions to steal the Barnes Collection from Merion. This is who all those poor people voted for. You get what you vote for.
The problems I described about Philadelphia already existed by the 1950s. Wilson Goode, the first black mayor of the city, didn’t take office until 1984. But you are right, neither party under our current system of government can solve the problems.
Yup…and the state of Mississippi is being run entirely by Republicans. It languishes at the bottom of any list regarding quality of life in the 50 states. So your point is…?
Yes, because everything in a city limits is within the control of the elected officials in that city. No influence from the state or federal governments, or from larger societal trends.
This is such a tired, trollish argument.
Yes, gov’t is certainly the answer! Our overlords only want whats best for us!
Mr. Osborne, you are living through the sea change into socialist utopia that you’ve dreamed about. Hope you enjoy the show.
Oh, and congrats to Philly Orch for a hire that will surely improve the quality of music-making.
Ah, the horrors of social democracy. I have 9 full time opera houses within two hours of where I live in Germany. And in a country with well-maintained cities and infrastructure.
Exporting the model makes money for some and that is the way the US now works. No orchestra or cultural investment will change the carefully nurtured beliefs in a market by and for the few. Enforcing that is what plebs with guns are for.
“Get yours and get out”.
While Philadelphia, like all big cities, has its problems, there is no point in exaggerating them with incorrect statistics more than 20 years out of date (the abandoned cars were dealt with more than a decade ago, and the population has increased by 77,800 over the past decade.
(https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-population-2020-census-growth-race-black-white-hispanic-asian-20210812.html)
The income disparities you cite are common to the US as a whole, and a single city or orchestra can’t begin to deal with them. The US will continue to decline unless it puts the health of its citizens at the forefront. This will never happen as long as the US the only Western country without even a pretense at effective universal health coverage. (Cue the various wealthy investors in the Health Care Denial industry to reply below…)
Is it time for orchestras to be more inclusive of other types of music? Shall Philadelphia enhance its programming by canceling Beethoven for Snoop Dogg? His poetry about women is lovely.
How about tossing soloists for guest DJs?
I’ve been tired of hearing Beethoven’s Ninth. Why not trade that for some Vanhal or Dittersdorf symphonies? And Brahms Violin Concerto? It’s so bad because it’s played so much; why not the Reger Violin Concerto?
And finally it’s time we stop hiring busy soloists of European. Mr Louis Farrakhan enjoys playing violin as soloist. I can’t help but wonder why he doesn’t get signed—just listen to his Beethoven.
They can always have a country music festival.
Which in america bring in the crowds.
That is a au courant term for HR Director.
The PO is losing it’s Friday afternoon audience in droves and not only because of Covid. Yannick seems to think Florence Price is a somehow undiscovered Beethoven when she was average at best. Mix in that with all the other “undiscovered masterpieces” of black composers that YNS is programming and the result is evident. He seems to think he can create new audience members among the black community this way when it will only surely fail. White audiences will not flock to rap, jazz, hip-hop and blues simply if they are performed by average white performers.
White audiences already flock to rap, jazz, hip-hop and blues.
That’s very cheeky and true. Of course, Yannick simply programming music by many composers who are not only white males, as had been the tradition for ummmm…a very long time. I don’t think Valerie Coleman writes rap music. Oddly enough, they might get more people in the door if they programmed some rap and hip hop. Jazz, isn’t going to do it.
People are also offended by seeing the orchestra dressed informally. But much of the audience doesn’t even dress that well. He turns out to have been a bad choice, however timely, for music director. We need Jimmy Conlon. Or Carlo Ponti. Or Glen Cortese.
Can I foresee a bureaucratic power struggle: the Vice President of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access vs. the Chief People & Culture Officer, followed by one of them calling a press conference to denounce the organization for prejudice?
No matter how good she may be at her job, I suspect she’ll have about the same level of success in attracting the diverse audience she’s after as the Nebraska Bowhunters Association would have if they wanted to attract masses of my fellow Jews.
Of course, “attracting the diverse audience…” is not remotely part of her job description. That belongs in artistic planning and marketing, not human resources.
I am reminded of a witticism attributed, surprisingly, to Calvin Coolidge. When asked “How many people work in the State Department?” he replied “About half.”
I read the same joke being uttered by the current pope when asked how many people were working at the Vatican.
So what is happening with the current head of hr there who has been there at least 15 years?
She had been woked away.
Horrible. Being white is a liability anymore it seems.this is all just ridiculous in my view.
If her job is promotion, she’ll probably be good at it.