Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Takacs Quartet At 50
The Takacs thing. “They have always been one of the world’s pre-eminent string quartets, and they have a unique approach to the repertoire,” said...
This Year’s Tony Nominations: The Year Of Hollywood Stars?
Forty-two productions are eligible for Tony Award nominations this year – the announcements come Thursday morning – making many of the categories very, very competitive. - Deadline
The Inherent Contradictions Of Mark Twain
Even when he was at the height of his literary powers, the title “businessman” might have suited Twain better than “author.” Not that avidity...
As AI Makes Some Things Very Easy, Will We Continue To Do Them?
We’re so used to trying things for ourselves that it seems bizarre to imagine us ever stopping. And yet, more and more, it’s becoming...
Nude Models In Florence Complain Of Difficult Working Conditions
Nude models at the fine arts academy, which was founded in 1784, complained to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera about their “exhausting” work. They want more breaks...
Gustavo Dudamel On The Purpose Of Orchestras
"Music is about relationships—how we come to understand one another, how we communicate and connect with those who are different from us, and how we build mutual...
The Dark Sides Underpinning Today’s Entrepreneurial Zeitgeist
Gig work, as it turns out, didn’t begin with Uber but with Avon direct-sales reps. The wacky metaphysics of today’s tech billionaires have their...
Why Schrödinger’s Cat Has Become A Pop Cult Sensation
How did an obscure argument about a mathematically complex and rather baffling theory of physics become embedded in public consciousness as an extraordinary exploration...
Comcast Is Bleeding Broadband Customers. Here’s Why
After reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't "winning in the marketplace" during...
Mellon Foundation Steps Up To Support Humanities Funding Stripped By Trump Admin
The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the...
AI Learned About Writing From Us. Will We Now Learn About Writing From AI?
Chatbots learned from human writing. Now the influence may run in the other direction. Some people have hypothesized that the proliferation of generative-AI tools such as...
As AI Fashion Models Cause A Sensation, It’s Time To Ponder Digital Twins
As digital replicas of real people become more common, especially in image-based industries like fashion, urgent ethical questions are emerging. These include conversations about the future...
The Iowa Town Where Every Other Person Seems To Be A Writer
Iowa City is the place where contemporary English literature matters more than anywhere else on earth. The home of arguably the world’s most famous...
Metaphors Are Brilliant At Helping Us Understand Ideas. They Can Also Narrow Our Thinking
One risk is that they close down possibilities. They can shut down our thinking, coercing it to fit the shape of someone else’s comparison...
One Gallery’s Artists Are Dominating New York’s Museum Calendar This Spring
The gallery’s artists are so dominant in New York’s leading museums this season that some in the art world are calling it “Hauser spring.”...
New Oscars Rule For Voters: You Actually Have To Watch All The Movies In...
According to the Academy, they will be tracking what voters watch in the digital screening room, and then there will be a form to...
Arts And The Trump Culture Wars
Because of the speed of the administration’s actions, arts and culture groups are scrambling to reassess the scope of their projects and find alternative...
The Boston Pops Phenomenon
He came to the job young, quickly became a local celebrity, and is presiding at a time when it has proved impossible for the Pops to...
If AI Can Think, Should It Deserve Rights?
Is there any threshold at which an A.I. would start to deserve, if not human-level rights, at least the same moral consideration we give...
A Color No One Has Ever Seen Before
The color “olo” can’t be found on a Pantone color chart. It can be experienced only in a cramped 9-by-13 room in Northern California....
The Odd Case Of A Celebrity Journalist Who Gets Impossible Interviews
The author was a little-known English freelance journalist. The story of how he came to land his Johnny Depp story – along with a...
Jennifer Higdon On Writing Music
"I don't judge people in any way about how much they know about music. In fact, when I'm writing, I think, "Well, let's pretend...
Amazon Stomps On National Independent Bookstore Day With Big Online Sale
Independent bookstores and users on BookTok are expressing their frustration with Amazon while encouraging readers to stay off of the online shopping site and instead make...
What Should Be The Story Of American Culture The Kennedy Center Tells?
The Kennedy Center is more than a venue, it’s a “living monument” — a place where the story of American culture plays out onstage....
Study: Music Producers Report Widespread Use Of AI In Their Work
The consensus is that AI is an extremely potent technology and already very, very good at creating content, however, you are somehow a villain...
