Musician, manager, and cultural entrepreneur Drew McManus has been involved with every aspect of nonprofit performing arts organizations. He has become one of the most unique individuals in this industry who is trusted and respected by administrators, academics, board members, music directors, musicians and union officials alike.

In addition to being a recognized expert in the orchestra industry, Mr. McManus is the proprietor and author of the highly successful daily column Adaptistration, the only dedicated weblog about the business of orchestras. Not only does his column discuss relevant issues related to the industry, it also serves as a force for positive change.

Examples of the nationally recognized articles have been the Annual Orchestra Website Review, Annual Executive Compensation Report, How To Save Classical Music, The Negotiation Process, Efficiency Through Technology, and the always popular Take a Friend to the Orchestra audience development initiative. These articles, along with others, have been steadily addressing taboo issues responsible for slowly strangling the business while simultaneously providing answers that are moving the industry toward positive change.

Adaptistration has become standard reading for arts administrators and music business curricula throughout the world. He is regularly quoted as an industry expert in international newspapers and trade journals such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Daily News, La Scena Musicale, Baltimore Style Magazine, and the Melbourne Age. Drew has been a featured orchestra industry expert on national radio programs from NPR’s All Things Considered and WNYC’s Soundcheck to local radio stations in major media markets such as Washington D.C. based all-news WTOP. International appearances include CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not The Opera and the Swedish radio show "Mitt i Musiken" ("In the middle of the music").

As the founder and president of the Gynecologic Cancer Fund, he has a singular understanding of governance issues and six-figure development experience as an executive board officer. His charity has returned over 85% of gross proceeds to its beneficiaries since its establishment in 1998; the highest return of any 501(c) in the state of Maryland.

Mr. McManus is a conservatory trained musician from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD. He holds degrees in tuba performance as well as regular work on the piano, arranging, and conducting.

As an administrator Mr. McManus founded and served as the Executive Director for the Baltimore Virtuosi, Baltimore’s premier chamber orchestra, from 1998-2003. Since its inception he managed the organization to consistently operate in the black while never reducing its artistic budget. By approaching the business of orchestra management with flexible, revolutionary techniques that benefit all stakeholders, he has been able to “do more with less”.

Currently, Mr. McManus works as a self employed Arts Consultant with a wide range of clients from orchestra administrations and orchestra players associations. From January, 2006 through January, 2007 he served as Senior Editor for Eastman School of Music’s Polyphonic.org project where his responsibilities included securing and creating original content for the website, developing and implementing the editorial strategy of the website, designing and implementing special website features as well as creating and moderating the ground breaking “Virtual Discussion Panel” format.

In 2005, Mr. McManus was among the first U.S. cultural administrators and commentators to spend more than a full week in Caracas, Venezuela as an official guest of the government to study the Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestras Juveniles e Infantiles, commonly referred to as “El Sistema,” which resulted in the first detailed series of articles in the U.S. highlighting the program and its accomplishments.

In the same year, hours after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast Region, Mr. McManus established an extensive relief effort at Adaptistration to aid displaced musicians. Over 300 offers providing shelter, direct aid, and work opportunities from across the country resulted in more than 60 musicians and managers finding temporary or long term solutions until they could return to their homes. Relief efforts featured in a Sunday edition of the New York Times and served as the subject of a special American Symphony Orchestra League emergency bulletin.

When he isn’t working 10 hour days, Mr. McManus spends time with his wife, avoids cutting off his fingers while pursing his love for woodworking, and playing with his three cats; Carmen, Tosca, and Cody.