Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
How a Small Experiment Turned Into A Dance Competition Juggernaut
From the get-go, Common People Dance Eisteddfod has predominantly attracted middle-aged women. (One year, a team did an interpretive dance on the theme of...
When Minimalism Took On The Mainstream Classical Music Orthodoxy
There is a yawning gap between Columbia’s marketing—“Let magician Terry Riley float you on his tangerine carousel into a sunshine universe you might have...
How The New Yorker’s Fact Checking Process Works
I’ve never encountered a complete description of what the magazine wants its checkers to check. A managing editor took a stab in 1936: “Points...
Smithsonian Secretary Says Institution Will Do Its Own Review
In the staff memo, Lonnie Bunch shared details of his formal response to the White House, indicating that the Smithsonian intends to undertake its...
In Summer, The Center Of The Classical Music World…
It is a mammoth undertaking that involves about 3,500 artists; 1,000 staff members; 16 stages; and a budget of 75 million euros (about $88...
Why We Struggle To Define Excellence
Excellence is not a neutral concept. Its not a fixed standard hovering above culture, waiting to be discovered. It's a construct. When we pretend...
The Ethics Of Building Better Humans
Our rage for hormone therapies, supplements, beauty procedures, and longevity interventions suggest we’re all competing in the Enhanced Games now. - Daniel Kunitz
Salonen’s New Creative Role At The LA Philharmonic
The creative director post is the first major initiative by Kim Noltemy, who became L.A. Phil president and chief executive last summer, and with it...
Mapping European History By Turning AI Loose On 600 Years Of Paintings
By training artificial intelligence to detect emotional signals in more than 600,000 European paintings spanning 600 years, the researchers found that collective shifts in...
We Need A Better Way To Develop AI
The current strategy of merely making A.I. bigger is deeply flawed — scientifically, economically and politically. Many things from regulation to research strategy must...
“Wizard Of Oz” At The Vegas Sphere: Is This The Future Of Movies?
I’ve rarely run across something that refuses to let me see it just one way, but one such resistor is “The Wizard of Oz” at...
What Esa-Pekka Salonen’s New Jobs Say About Orchestras (And The San Francisco Symphony)
It turns out there are arts administrators — some of them right here in California — who understand the importance of innovative creative leadership. They understand that the...
Met Opera Makes Deal To Perform Seasons In Saudi Arabia
The company has reached a lucrative agreement with the kingdom that calls for it to perform there for three weeks each winter. - The New...
Movie-Making Is Broken. We Have To Rebuild From The Ground Up
“We need to rebuild it from the ground up. I believe AI can help us do that, because as it lowers the cost threshold...
An Enormous Number Of Impressive New Museums Are Opening. But Aren’t Museums In Distress?
Is it the idea that the art museum as we’ve understood it is under genuine existential threat, a relic of a battered Enlightenment worldview?...
An Awful Summer At The Movie Box Office
Is it time for Hollywood to concede that a lot of moviegoers in North America are never coming back? That movie theaters have permanently...
Classical Music Is Expensive To Make. How To Finance It?
In the end it comes down to a simple question. Western classical music as a living art form – do we want it or...
AI Bots Are Destroying The Web
When AI searchbots, with Meta (52% of AI searchbot traffic), Google (23%), and OpenAI (20%) leading the way, clobber websites with as much as...
How Indie Music Became The Voice Of A Generation And Then Ate Itself
The real reason that indie started to die is Spotify. As streaming supplanted downloads and album sales, it automated music discovery. Instead of reading Pitchfork or...
After Cuts WGBH Lays Off Staff For “American Experience” History Series
WGBH, the bellwether public TV station in Boston, has laid off the 13 people who worked on the history series “American Experience” and announced...
Why So Many Of Our Novels Are Driven By TV
Novels are better than television, but the surest way to make money from novels is to write with television in mind. - n+1
Director Says Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum Will Have To Close If Urgent Repairs Aren’t...
Director Emilie Gordenker says the original building, which is owned by the Dutch state, is in such poor condition it needs urgent and extensive...
Meta Created AI Versions Of Celebrities Without Permission
Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens...
AI Is Changing Who Gets To Be A Musician
Generative AI, with its ability to spit out seemingly unique content, has divided the music world, with musicians and industry groups complaining that recorded...
“Hamilton” Was A Huge Success. And Then The Mood Turned Sour
The world that received “Hamilton” in July 2020, however, was not the world that had made it the toast of the 2016 Tony Awards. The show’s...
