Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Intimate Opera On The Prairies
Des Moines Metro Opera, founded in 1973, can’t rival Salzburg or Aix-en-Provence in scenic luxury. Yet musical values by no means suffer; casts are...
The Genius Of Banksy’s London Animal Murals
The murals have captured the public imagination, not because they’re artistic masterpieces, but because they play with something beyond the world of pop art...
In Praise Of Dilettantism
I’m a serial learner and hobbyist. Maybe you’d call it being a dilettante. Over the past 20-odd years, I’ve tried my hand at painting,...
What Determines Whether A Book Is Remembered?
Even limiting ourselves to literature, it’s simply the case that what endures has minimal correlation to either contemporaneous popularity or contemporaneous acclaim. - Countercraft
How A Play About Depression Became A Worldwide Phenomenon
An uplifting play about depression, Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing has become a global phenomenon since its Edinburgh fringe debut 10 years ago. It has...
Why Seattle Dance Companies Have Started Touring
“Touring gives the dancers a chance for exposure for our creativity and artistry.” And a chance for audiences around the world to get a...
What The Grooves Of A Vinyl Record Look Like At 1000x Magnification
Here’s a photograph of the record grooves captured by Supranowitz at 500x magnification. Those dark chunks you see are dust particles. - Hasan Jasim
Scottish Arts Organizations Protest Deep Funding Cuts
Many of Scotland’s best known arts organisations, including the Edinburgh fringe and national jazz orchestra, are in uproar over plans for deep cuts in...
Anatomy Of An Artworld Fraud
Describing a particularly vertiginous exchange in which “somewhere between $125k and $175k is created out of thin air, a few phone calls and an...
When Is It Okay To Quit Reading A Book?
The debate is much older than the internet, but in online reading communities such as Goodreads, or on the literary sides of Instagram or...
Mark Zuckerberg’s Epically Bad Statue Of His Wife
The sculpture by Daniel Arsham, a brand-friendly New York-based artist with his own fashion line, is really bad — but it’s interestingly bad. When you...
Ian McKellen Says His Fat Suit Saved Him From Injury During Recent Stage Fall
"It was in the battle scene. My foot got caught in a chair, and trying to shake it off I started to slide on...
Authors Sue Anthropic AI Over Copyright
“Anthropic has enjoyed enormous financial gain from its exploitation of copyrighted material,” the complaint states, noting that Anthropic projects it will generate more than...
Publisher Is Selling George Orwell Papers, Breaking Up Valuable Collection
The treasure trove that is the extensive archive of correspondence and contracts amassed by Orwell’s original publisher, Victor Gollancz, could be scattered to the...
Judge Blocks Major New Sports Streaming Venture
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said they would appeal the ruling. - AP
Too Many New Plays, Too Few Producers
The ratio of independent producers to new plays being written, and people wanting to make them, is completely out of kilter. And as subsidies...
Seattle Exhibit On Confronting Hate Spawns More Of It
“In an exhibit that was supposed to be about coming together to confront hate, hate has won. And, our community feels more alone as...
State Designates “Nutcracker” As “Living Historic Landmark”
The show is now officially known as a Living Historic Landmark by the state of Utah, the studio announced Monday. This designation is the...
Streaming Service Aims To Expand Live Theatre Audience
“We’re expanding the size of the theatre; we’re not creating a competitive product." Now, with unions across the field adopting streaming provisions, the second-best...
Rethinking A Culture Of Innovation For Opera
The canonic composers learned by doing, failing, and doing again. This is no longer the norm in opera, where creators rarely get the opportunity...
Pittsburgh Symphony Musicians Agree On New Contract
The musicians current base salary is $110,384, which includes an electronic media agreement stipulating payments relating to recordings and electronic media. At the conclusion...
Local News Is Disappearing From Radio Stations As Radio’s Business Model Collapses
The existential threat to the radio business model comes as listeners abandon terrestrial broadcasts in favor of on-demand podcasts and streaming services, part of...
AI-Created Cartoons For Kids Are Here (But The Kids Don’t Seem To Be Watching)
The shows have failed to take off. Since last year, roughly 20 episodes have been released. They collectively have less than 40,000 views on...
Why Do We Let Technology Drive What We Do?
Our tech debates do not begin by deliberating about what kind of future we want and then reasoning about which paths lead to where...
The Ethical Tangle In Trying To Do Good
Is it possible for such a civic minded person, concerned with the wellbeing of others and the events of the day, to view the...
