Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Problem With Non-Profit Journalism
Regular journalism plumped up with NGO filler and paid for with foundation dough too easily becomes either risibly partisan or a kind of kitsch...
The Metropolitan Opera’s Focus On New Opera Is Great. But It’s Going About It...
"Peter Gelb is telegraphing to composers that stylistic conformity within the boundaries of a populist musical means is the only possible route to success...
The Real Villain In The British Museum Scandal: Politicians
At the British Museum, flat funding from the Conservatives has meant a real-terms cut in revenue grant-in-aid of 37% between 2009-10, under Labour, and now, under...
How JD Salinger Used Copyright To Shield His Privacy
Salinger’s public legacy, a gnarled mess of copyright enforcement designs, First Amendment controversies, and the persistent desire to be left alone by the press,...
How Authors Are Being Influenced By Their Fan Communities
I reminded them that I was older than their dads, but they didn’t mind, and I became a fusion of agony uncle, village witch...
Major Increase In Philanthropy For Journalism
"Partly because it’s a relatively new area of giving, it’s hard to get a reliable count of how much philanthropy funds journalism. A report...
Major New Arts Center Opens In Lower Manhattan
Getting here required not just artistic pluck but political backing, a half-billion-dollar construction budget, and the creation of a new institution with the interdisciplinary...
British Museum In Crisis After A Rough Summer
The museum is now deluged with renewed calls for the restitution of contested objects, and raising a huge sum for an impending refurbishment looks...
Scalpers Make Out Like Bandits At Toronto International Film Festival
By Tuesday, tickets for Hayao Miyazaki’s film “The Boy and the Heron” had topped $527 — more than a $200 increase. Meanwhile, tickets for...
Could The AI Boom Quickly Bust?
Reality check, we have no concrete reason, other than sheer technoptimism, for thinking that solutions to any of these problems is imminent." - Dezeen
Creativity And Brilliance Seem To Cluster In Certain Places In Certain Times. Why?
A survey of the past shows that genius is not randomly scattered about, like the seeds of a dandelion, but concentrates: ancient Athens, Renaissance...
The Problem With Criticism: As A Culture We’re Rejecting Hierarchy?
“Today the mere suggestion that some things are better than others, particularly in the arts, is met with confusion and hostility.” - Artnet
What’s At Stake: Artists Sue Over AI Training On Their Work
The lawsuit may serve as an early bellwether of how hard it will be for all kinds of creators — Hollywood actors, novelists, musicians and computer programmers —...
Fight Over “Woke” Coverage Is Tearing Apart Atlanta Magazine
“ use terms like ‘woke’ and we shouldn’t be taking on issues that are divisive and we can ill afford to lose any...
Riccardo Muti, Unbound
"I was learning from them, because a good conductor – and I don’t know if I am a good conductor – but a conductor who is wise knows...
Professor Engages ChatGPT As Participant In Class
ChatGPT is the oversized A.I. elephant sitting front and center in every classroom. Instructors can try to ignore or prohibit it, but doing so...
Study: YouTube May Have Solved Its “Rabbit Hole” Recommendation Problem
In early 2019, YouTube announced tweaks to its recommendation system with the goal of dramatically reducing the promotion of “harmful misinformation” and “borderline content”...
Study (For What It’s Worth): 84 Percent Of The General Population Would Like To...
This new data comes from a Royal Philharmonic Orchestra study. A previous survey from 2018 found that 79 percent of the population was interested in seeing...
Teacher: Perhaps AI Will Let Us Focus On Teaching What Matters
"Starting this year, the center of gravity in my classroom is not teaching writing as an “essential skill” that all students need to master;...
Algorithmic Theatre: Artists Need To Consider Their Role In Using AI
As the downsides to our increasingly mediated world become more apparent, working with AI no longer seems quite as defensible as it once did....
Tracking Your Screen Time So You Have A Healthier Life? Don’t! (It’s A Trap)
I was spending seven hours a day looking at my phone. I spent the following weeks actively trying to bring the number down. I...
How Goodreads Went Wrong
On the surface, Goodreads seems to have mission clarity. It bills itself as “the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations” and frames...
End Of An Era: Frank Oteri Steps Down From NewMusicBox After 24 Years
Since NewMusicBox launched in May 1999, it has published in-depth interviews Oteri conducted with many of America’s most significant musical creators of the late...
Why Schoenberg Matters
A paradox is operating here: why would such an influential visionary and radical creator as Schoenberg receive minimal attention and performances of his masterworks...
Brandeis University Evidently Finds The Arts Expendable
Given the economics of falling enrollments, bloated administrations, ballooning deficits, and cultural illiteracy, it suggests something far more insidious, namely that Brandeis, of all...
