Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
What We’re Learning About Creativity From AI
hysical tasks that are easy for humans turn out to be very difficult for robots, while algorithms are increasingly able to mimic our intellect....
What If Getting Better Is a Con?
Technique aims to bring efficiency to everything in life. Anytime we use machine logic and apply it to humanity, we are in the realm...
Trump Has Outsourced America’s 250th Birthday History To Hillsdale College
On the “America 250” website created by the White House, the account of the nation’s founding is outsourced to Hillsdale College, a far-right institution...
What If Efficiency Doesn’t Make Us Better?
The problem with the technologies of 2025 — household, work or personal — is that we don’t have control over whether we use them,...
Why A Labor Movement For Musicians Is So Difficult
If the industrial, mechanical-reproduction era was a historical anomaly for musicians—as the “recording artist” emerged as a new way of making a living—perhaps so,...
The Radical 1960s Language Experiment That Left Students Unable To Spell
The Initial Teaching Alphabet was a radical, little-known educational experiment trialled in British schools (and in other English-speaking countries) during the 1960s and 70s....
Inside The CIA’s Art Collection
What these paintings represent about the CIA’s relationship to the art world, though, is more complicated. On these walls, the intersection between US art and...
Why Is Hollywood Stuck On Rerun?
Hollywood, it appears, is stuck on repeat, sucked with an ever-more deafening gurgle into a death cycle of creative bankruptcy desperately presented as comfort...
Tate Modern Is 25 Years Old. It’s Just Launched An Ambitious Endowment Campaign. Good...
The gallery’s reserves have dropped sharply – from £22.6m in 2022–23 to £10.9m at the end of 2024. Government support is also in decline:...
Can Ken Burns Tell A Definitive Version Of American History?
Since his 1990 series “The Civil War” drew record viewership to PBS and crossed over into pop culture, Burns has proven time and again...
Room For The Straight White Male Writer?
“Unwilling to portray themselves as victims (cringe, politically wrong), or as aggressors (toxic masculinity), unable to assume the authentic voices of others (appropriation), younger white...
What Theatre Tickets Cost In 2025 London
Overall average cheapest ticket to a show in London’s Theatreland district now costs £30.55, up 24.29% from the year prior. In comparison, the overall...
Neuroscience Researcher On Music As Medicine:
"We now have ample evidence that music can help treat a variety of injuries and diseases, including both mental and physical disorders. And I...
UK Government Rejects Proposed Streaming Tax To Support UK Production
The U.K. government has firmly rejected calls for a 5% levy on streaming platforms and mandatory IP retention rules, instead emphasizing the benefits of...
Band Accused Of Being AI After Racking Up 500k Spotify Plays
An account on X has emerged claiming to represent The Velvet Sundown. This account asserts that the band is not at all AI-generated, sharing in...
Did A Federal Court Just Open Our Libraries Up For AI Plundering?
Let’s call this what it is: a case about borrowed books and a legal system struggling to reckon with machines that never ask before...
Why The Music Industry Seems Better-Defended Against AI
As in other creative industries, AI music tools are poised to hollow out the workaday middle of the market. Even new engineering tools have...
Report: Stressed UK Theatres Are Increasingly Playing It Safer
Local theatres are increasingly “playing safe” with their programming, resulting in more one-night events, fewer week-long runs and a significant drop in opera, ballet...
Gallery Powerhouse Blum Will Lay Off Staff And Close, Citing Market Downturn
Founded as Blum and Poe in 1994 in Santa Monica, Calif., by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe, the gallery represents some of the most...
Warner Creates $1+ Billion Fund To Buy Rights To Music Catalogs
Warner Music Group and private investment giant Bain Capital are launching a $1.2 billion joint venture to acquire “legendary” music catalogs across both recorded music...
How Sondheim’s Collection Came To The Library Of Congress
The Library announced this week that it has acquired more than 5,000 items from Sondheim's collection, which will be available to the public on...
Cultural Vandalism: Alberta’s Book-Banning Project
“This isn’t about banning books,” Premier Danielle Smith posted on X. “It’s about protecting kids from graphic, sexually explicit content that has no place...
Canada Debates What Qualifies As Canadian Culture
The outcome will shape who gets to tell Canadian stories and what those stories are, and also which ones count as Canadian under the...
New Project Reveals 700 Years Of Irish History
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, a global academic collaboration led by Trinity College Dublin, deployed historians, computer scientists and other specialists to digitally recreate...
Hollywood Takes On AI Copyright Rules In Washington
America’s creators are mounting a campaign to push back on any use of their work without permission or compensation, seeking to head off potential abuses of...
