Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Inside The Martha Graham 100th Anniversary Party
Actors, musicians and politicians in sequined ball gowns and floral off-the-shoulder dresses ascended the steps of the New York Public Library’s regal main branch...
A History Of Controversy Over LACMA’s New Building
Enter Michael Govan, who joined LACMA in 2006. He wooed Swiss architect Peter Zumthor to conceive of a better LACMA, convinced the county to...
The New LACMA: Audacious But Confusing
It is a free-form essay in concrete and glass, with no formal entrance, no front or back. Its undulating form has earned its share...
The New LACMA: Art V. Architecture
The Geffen’s architecture overwhelms its objects. Entombed in a concrete bunker—one of the stand-alone galleries—and battling hulking walls and cavernous space, one of LACMA’s...
Young Composers Worry About Their Future With AI
Carson Zuck, 22, was a freshman in college when ChatGPT was released. As Berklee began integrating AI into courses, Zuck said, he watched his...
Federal Court Puts Brakes On Mega-Merger Of Local TV Companies
Nexstar and Tegna, two of the largest television groups in the United States, agreed to merge last year in a $6.2 billion deal that put scores...
Report: UK Theatre Is Thriving. The Business Model Is Not
More people are going to the theatre than ever before. In 2025, over 37 million people attended theatres across the UK, while the West End alone...
How AI Will Accelerate Human Creativity
The most successful organizations of 2026 and beyond will not be those that simply use AI to do more things faster. Instead, they will...
Book Clubs Are Bringing GenZ Into Reading
Reading is experiencing a resurgence among Gen Z and millennials, many of whom are actively seeking alternatives to “doomscrolling” and the mental fatigue associated with constant social...
Faculty Are Exiting Texas Universities, Claiming Censorship
The University of Texas ordered faculty in February to refrain from teaching ill-defined “controversial” topics in class. Nearly all Texas public university systems have conducted...
A bend in the culture
This Week's Highlights:
The question running through this week's stories isn't whether cultural institutions are in trouble. It's who gets to decide what they're for....
AJ Chronicles: This Week — Perils of the Algorithmic Culture
The threat isn't that AI replaces artists. It's subtler and more coercive: that an algorithmically saturated environment erodes the capacity for the kind of thinking that we like to think art requires. Tolerance for ambiguity. Patience with difficulty. The willingness to be bored before a breakthrough.
English National Opera Gets A New Chief Exec
At Rambert, Helen Shute has led partnerships with The Royal Ballet and Manchester International Festival expanding Rambert’s international reach and developing new initiatives, including...
Has The Anecdotal Lede Outlived Its Journalistic Utility?
For many years, this tactic served us well, and it’s deeply embedded in the toolkits of generations of writers and editors. But I wonder...
Study: The Antidote To Mindless Phone Rot — A Surprising Finding
The results after doing so were eye-opening even to them: among a totally random population, levels of creativity for the people watching the experimental...
Yale Report: Universities Themselves Are To Blame For Lowered Trust Of Higher Ed
High costs, murky admissions practices, uneven academic standards and fears about free speech on campuses, the committee said, are among the reasons for widening...
Inside The Kennedy Center Dumpster Fire (OMG!)
Richard Grenell, told me to “get rid of everything” in the permanent collection because we needed all new art for the reopening. Although I...
AI’s Are Beginning To Get Emotional Intelligence
Emotions are the AI industry’s new fixation. Not only are growing numbers of start-ups such as Amotions AI promising tools that interpret feelings; the...
When AI Can Write Like Me
That a machine might use my writing not only to learn about my subject matter, but also to analyze and ultimately mimic my authorial...
The Only Path Forward For Struggling Theatres
Theatres facing financial difficulty can only prosper by “programming their way out of it”, according to the Young Vic artistic director, Nadia Fall, who...
What Happens Next In The LiveNation/Ticketmaster Case
The jury’s clean sweep, finding monopolization on every claim, gives the states significantly more leverage in the remedy phase than a mixed verdict would...
Trump’s Arts Commission Approves Preliminary Design Of Arch
The Commission of Fine Arts, which is filled with Mr. Trump’s appointees, has an advisory role on the design of the project, but no...
Artistic Director – Indianapolis Ballet working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Indianapolis Ballet (IB) seeks its next Artistic Director, who will carry the organization’s mission forward, embracing the history and future of classical ballet through dynamic
Helen DeWitt Declined A Prestigious $175,000 Prize. Is She Principled Or Crazy?
Opinions on her recent stance are strongly divided: some have praised her principled refusal to play the self-promotion game that takes so much out...
Connections Between Classical Music And Heavy Metal?
There’s more that connects metal and classical music than sets them apart. A love of volume, turning the noise up to 11? From Black...
