Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Can Literary Fiction Help Save Classical Music?
Since 2020, well over a dozen novels have taken classical music as their setting. Of course, novels about classical music are nothing new. But...
“Nutcracker” From Behind The Stage
Pittsburgh’s production has evolved its own traditions and superstitions. During some performances, performers pass a Heinz ketchup packet while onstage, like a hot potato....
Americans’ Obsession With Renovation And Makeovers — And The White House
The White House has explained the East Wing’s demolition as “renovation,” and the necessary prelude to a multimillion-dollar ballroom. This is the architectural equivalent...
Have Stripped Public Media Of Funding, Now Republicans Want To Cancel NPR, PBS Station...
The CPB is set to shut down after Congress approved President Trump’s request to rescind its funding. The Center for American Rights said the CPB shutdown should...
Mark Swed: LA’s Best Classical Music Of 2025
Classical music’s survival instincts proved reliable. New leaders of L.A.’s arts institutions are bringing vitality to the region, empowering musicians and giving fans hope...
Baritone Jubilant Sykes, Stabbed and Killed
After the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a call about an assault at a house around 9:20 p.m., officers found Sykes, 71, with...
The People Who Are Using AI To Do Their Thinking
For this set of compulsive users, AI has become a primary interface through which they interact with the world. The emails they write, the...
How Warner Bros. Sale To Netflix Could Change Movies
In Hollywood, concern about whether Warner Bros. will remain a theatre-centered business is haunted by historical echoes of earlier seismic shifts in the movie...
The Trumped Up Kennedy Honors
Every detail of the ceremony appeared to have been plucked from Trump’s mood board, an indelible blend of revanchist impulses and eighties camp. - The...
Good Morning
Today's highlights: Our culture consumption habits are under the microscope, with a look at what happens If You Quit Social Media and whether you'll...
The Best Classical Music Performances Of 2025
I love to be surprised: to come across premieres and fresh interpretations that upend my expectations and open my mind to new possibilities. When...
What If Laziness And Apathy Have Neurological Causes?
When these systems become dysfunctional, people who were once highly motivated can become pathologically apathetic. Whereas previously they might have been curious, highly engaged...
2025’s Best Dance
Emotion was often the bedrock of the dances and dance artists who rose to the top this year. - The New York Times
Korea’s Classical Music Scene Has A Major Economic Problem
Korea’s classical music market remains chronically constrained. In an ecosystem dominated by private presenters, major international orchestras often need to schedule at least three...
The Bain Report: How The Movie Theatre Business Can Be Saved
So, how does the cinema experience fit into this time? Its key benefits are “immersion, spectacle, and shared experiences,” the Bain report highlights. “But...
A Tumultuous Year For Washington DC Classical Music
More and more, the political noise around the Kennedy Center threatens to overwhelm the music within, and it’s unclear what, if anything, is being...
If You Quit Social Media. Will Your Time Really Be Better Spent On…?
One of the more common doomsday scenarios about social media goes something like this: an internet-addicted public, hooked on the dopamine hits of engagement...
A Historic Turner Prize Winner
The judges praised Nnena Kalu's brightly coloured sculptures - which are haphazardly wrapped in layers of ribbon, string, card and shiny VHS tape -...
And Now… The Trump Administration’s War On “Woke” Fonts
US diplomats have been ordered to return to using the Times New Roman typeface in official communications, with secretary of state Marco Rubio calling the Biden...
Music Director, Dance, Vassar College
The Music Director is the key resource for the students, faculty and staff of the Vassar College Dance Department.
Of Sports Betting And Music Competitions
I acknowledge that it is important to be able to honor great musicians in a very public way but I believe there is a...
Why Are We Curious About Some Things And Not Others?
All this infophilia raises an important question: if we like information so much, why don’t we seek out more of it? - Psyche
Pew Arts And Culture Names A New Leader
Christina Vassallo, 45, follows Paula Marincola, who retired in October after serving as the center’s first director, since 2008. After leaving the Fabric Workshop in 2023,...
How Streaming Made Documentaries Popular (And Wrecked The Form)
Presently, non-fiction filmmaking (in the form of docuseries) stands as a cornerstone of streaming economics, a format bolstered and degraded by an ever-growing demand...
How Netflix Upended The Movie Business
Netflix’s movies don’t have to abide by any of the norms established over the history of cinema: they don’t have to be profitable, pretty,...
