Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Sleepy US Copyright Office Is Suddenly Very Popular
The office has suddenly found itself in the spotlight. Lobbyists for Microsoft, Google, and the music and news industries have asked to meet. Thousands of...
Painting Stolen Fifty Years Ago By New Jersey Mobsters Returned To Owner
"The Schoolmistress," a painting by notable artist John Opie around 1784, was taken from the home of Francis Wood, 96, in Newark in 1969....
Late Frank Lloyd Wright House Modeled On Guggenheim Sells For Under-Asking Price
A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in the town of New Canaan, Connecticut, has sold for $6 million—25 percent below its asking price—to an undisclosed...
Is AI An Existential Threat To The Music Business Or The Thing That Will...
The industry is facing yet another revolution, but what sort isn’t yet clear. Is A.I. a format change in the way music is consumed,...
Worries About AI Deepfakes Changing The Past
History can be a powerful tool for manipulation and malfeasance. The same generative A.I. that can fake current events can also fake past ones....
There Are Times Language Seems So Inadequate
Orwell contended that language had become corrupt and debased in his time, but the survival of his examples into the present contradicts him, suggesting...
Classical Music Concerts By Candlelight Is Having A Moment
Candlelight Concerts aren’t about digital projections, but are about curating and customizing full experiences. And that’s striking a major chord. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Paper Tickets Are Being Replaced By QR Codes. We’re Losing Something
Even now, after mask and vaccine card protocols have abated, most theatergoers rely upon proof of purchase displayed on a screen. Will call is...
Why The Music Business Is Collapsing Around Us
A generation ago, this kind of laziness didn’t exist in the music business. Before streaming, everybody in the value chain needed new music. The...
Gen Z Has Discovered The Public Library
Gen Z seems to love public libraries. A November report from the American Library Association (ALA) drawing from ethnographic research and a 2022 survey found that gen...
Why Is France’s Oscars Committee So Bad?
Over the last three decades, a number of French movies have earned Oscar recognition, but none have been the official French Oscar submission. -...
Universities — The Essential Ingredient Should Be Free Speech
Teaching a subject is important; it is also in a sense incidental. The classroom is, first and foremost, a place to train young minds...
How “Conglomerate” Publishing Works
I found that, if we look beyond just “authors”—if we also take into account agents, scouts, editors, marketers, managers of subsidiary rights, wholesalers, distributors,...
Art, Oligarchs And Fraud
We think of oligarchy as a foreign concept, but the truth is that American oligarchs abound, and many of them collect art. It’s a time-honored...
Reconsidering “Rhapsody In Blue” As It Turns 100
It is easy, and accurate, to call “Rhapsody in Blue” naïve and corny. But, to be fair, it was still very early in the...
Major Museums Remove Native Artifacts In Response To New Federal Rules
The American Museum of Natural History will close two major halls exhibiting Native American objects, its leaders said on Friday, in a dramatic response...
David Brooks: For A Kinder, Gentler World? It’s Culture Above Politics
"I confess I still cling to the old faith that culture is vastly more important than politics or some pre-professional training in algorithms and...
Are Those Immersive Van Gogh Shows Just A Money Grab?
Leading digital artists have claimed that some of the most popular commercial immersive experiences, particularly those based on the work of deceased artists, such...
This Year’s Whitney Biennial Reflects The Chaotic Precariousness Of Now
The drastic phase of the pandemic, with its restrictions, may have receded. But the landscape left in its wake is a panorama of compounding...
Flailing NPR Hires A Non-Journalist As Its Next CEO
Before joining Web Summit, she spent seven years as CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, where she drove growth in global readership and impact while...
So The Oscars Say “Barbie” Is An “Adapted” Screenplay? It Doesn’t Make Sense
Moving “Barbie” from the best original screenplay category — where it was the probable winner over films like “The Holdovers” and “Past Lives” —...
First-Ever Study: What Works Dance Companies Worldwide Are Performing This Season
Among the 33 global companies studied, 23.6% of works in the 2023/2024 season are choreographed by women. - Dance Data Project
Amanda Palmer On Why Crowdfunding Works
It’s the opposite of magic: it’s a salary that I pull from a community that trusts me. - The Big Idea
Consider The Cultural Meaning Of The Hoodie
Perhaps no other garment is so charged, or so fraught, in this country as the hoodie. - The Point
The Inherent Difficulties In Writing About Office Work
Unfortunately, for those of us who write about them, white-collar workplaces are not inherently high-drama. As an employee, this is ideal. For a nonfiction...
