Reporting on developments in social media that may have implications for orchestras, Erica Orden writes in Tuesday’s (3/15) Wall Street Journal, “New York City Ballet is set to become one of the country’s first major performing-arts companies to govern its employees’ posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media outlets. … The company now is negotiating a social-media policy as part of contract talks with the dancers’ union, the American Guild of Musical Artists. The ballet’s executive director, Katherine Brown, said in a statement: ‘Because social media usage has dramatically increased and will continue to do so, like many organizations the company is exploring the development of social media guidelines for all artistic and administrative employees with respect to their professional lives.’ The union’s national executive director said it doesn’t see the need for a social-networking policy but wouldn’t object as long as rules don’t over-police the dancers. ‘In part, City Ballet is a public trust, and because of that employees have the right to use social media to praise or criticize what it does,’ said Alan Gordon, AGMA’s national executive director. The proposed policy doesn’t differ significantly from those at many large corporations, although it would be among the first to be enacted by a major performing-arts company. Boston Ballet is negotiating a similar agreement.”
Posted March 15, 2011
