[CAUT] Piano juries on concert instruments

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Israel,
	My characterization was in response to Jeff Tanner's posts, which  
emphasized the notion of caut as doing physical maintenance work, and  
endorsed having supervision by someone who understood that kind of  
thing. Your setup in SF is far different, obviously. And it makes  
perfect sense, though I suspect that budgetary issues might put  
pressure on to "reduce a level of management" and do away with an  
"unnecessary bureaucracy." That is certainly how many bean counters  
might see the situation.
	Here at UNM, the tech folks in theater are faculty: wardrobe, scene  
design, lighting, even the technical manager is a faculty position  
(and those skills are taught to students, who actually do a good deal  
of the work). So it is very much integrated. I don't know about  
"plastic arts" department (painting, sculpture, etc). In music, we  
have a recording engineer who also teaches a couple classes, same  
thing with a person who oversees the computer lab, a full time bands  
assistant, etc. IOW some integration of tech support into "quasi- 
faculty," though on a lower level than theater.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu
On Jan 3, 2010, at 11:20 AM, Israel Stein wrote:

>>  	Personally, I'd far rather be a part of the department than, say,  
>> an  adjunct of physical plant, which sends people over to fix  
>> plumbing,  HVAC and lighting, etc.
>> Regards,
>> Fred Sturm
>>
>>
> Fred, as I wrote before - Creative Arts Technical Services  
> technicians are not building maintenance people. That's Facilities  
> Management. We are concerned with the technical aspects of the  
> disciplines being taught at the schools.
> We work closely with the departments whose technical needs we serve  
> - but in a relationship that is not subordinate to them and which  
> generally results in much better working conditions that those  
> prevailing in places where technical personnel is not generally  
> respected. The consultative nature of the relationship is built in  
> and is fostered by the administrative setup. That does not mean that  
> such a relationship cannot be created under the standard  
> administrative setup - but there are certain built-in protections  
> under our setup from some of the difficulties that can be imposed  
> when direct Music Dept supervision is in place.
>
> Israel Stein