Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Are Protests Against Corporations Funding The Arts Killing Corporate Arts Funding?
Increasing protests around elements of corporate sponsorship of the arts – most notably last month, when support from investment firm Baillie Gifford for the Hay, Edinburgh...
How Words Shape The Future
We make something more likely, more widely believed, by saying and repeating it. Our rhetoric encourages or discourages. Which is why sports teams chant...
The World’s Oldest Story Painting Is 51,000 Years Old
The previous record holder was a lifesize picture of a wild pig believed to be created at least 45,500 years ago in a cave at Leang...
LLMs And AI Challenge Our Notions Of Consciousness
LLMs challenge traditional notions of intelligence and consciousness, blurring lines between AI and biology. - Psychology Today
Are There Too Many Non-Profits?
While each example in the litany of headlines of late is unique, taken together, the drumbeat of bad news raises serious questions about nonprofit...
Big Media Stocks Have Had a Rough Time While Tech Soars
Media heavyweights are likely due to endure more pain as the year goes on. The political and regulatory environment for mergers and acquisitions is...
The Politics Behind Canceling New Jersey’s Pompidou Center
The mayor of Jersey City and a major supporter of the museum, blamed the cuts instead on his deteriorating relationship with the state’s governor,...
Amid Controversy, Scotland’s National Gallery Says It Will Continue To Take Money From Financial...
First Minister John Swinney has criticised the “misplaced” targeting of the firm, while Scottish culture secretary Angus Robertson has warned that disinvestment campaigns were...
Literary Studies Are Dying. How Should The Field Cope?
Especially cruel realities face a struggling field like literary studies, with its disappearing majors, budgetary pressures, abysmal job market, fears about academic freedom, and...
Brooke Shields Is Actors Equity’s New President. Here’s What She Wants To Do.
Shields’s music director suggested she consider the opening, and soon enough, she had tossed her hat in the ring, and in May she won the vote...
This Year’s Classical Music Programming Diversity Report
The Donne report found that 78.4 percent of works in 2023–2024 were by historical (deceased) white men, with 30.6 percent coming from the top...
Is Australian Arts Funding At An All-Time Low?
Right now, after the chaos of the COVID years and amid a cost of living crisis, many in the sector are feeling like arts...
Oooh. Now We Have “Malevolent” Creativity
When you think of creativity, you probably imagine a genius behind an easel or at the heart of a brilliantly directed movie. However, people can...
“Carnegie Hall Of The West” Is For Sale
Harvest Rock Church is asking $45 million for the 1,200-seat auditorium near the Old Pasadena district that has also hosted jazz greats including Ella...
LA’s Jazz Clubs Are Under Stress. Can They Survive?
The city is brimming with jazz musicians releasing stellar albums and taking risks live. But is L.A. so expensive and disconnected that it’s risking...
Why Should We Have To Allow Facial Recognition To Use Ordinary Services?
There’s something disconcerting about a sophisticated piece of surveillance technology deployed for something as banal as selling candy. - The Walrus
San Francisco Symphony Threatens To Ban Patron Over Protest Sign
Amid growing public outrage over the Board of Governors’ failure to retain the acclaimed Finnish conductor beyond his five-year contract ending after the 2024-25...
Ownership Of Ancient Culture Is Getting Very Very Complicated
If a statue cast in Rome 2,000 years ago is discovered in Greece, Cyprus or Turkey, would it belong to one of those states,...
US State Department Appoints 11 Musicians As Cultural Ambassadors
The State Department introduced 11 global music ambassadors who are charged with bridging cultural divides through poetry and melody at a time when the...
De-Aging Tom Hanks In The Movies
If Zemeckis can achieve that effect in Here, how long can it be before such de-ageing is as common as using hair dye and...
The Year’s First Movie Blockbuster: “Inside Out 2” Earns A Billion Dollars
After 19 days of release, the animated sequel has grossed $469.3 million in North America and $545.5 million internationally for a worldwide tally of...
Why Is The Academy Of Motion Pictures Museum Making So Many Mistakes?
After the museum initially failed to recognize the Jewish founders of the industry in 2021, this year the exhibit aimed at righting this lapse...
Painting Used For Cover Of The First Harry Potter Book Sells For $1.9 Million
The painting surpassed its $400,000–$600,000 pre-auction estimate, and has now increased in value by more than 1,650 percent since it was first auctioned in...
In Praise Of Roadies
Roadies are fundamental workers in the fulfilment of live music events and concert tours. They are much more than “humpers” who haul road cases...
The Reboot Industrial Complex
When we engage with nostalgic media, we are, in essence, engaging with media that attempts to take us home — often to our childhoods,...
