Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Peril Of Being Surrounded By Admirers
Admirers agree with you “even if you say something totally crazy.” And that’s bad: “You need people who can tell you what you don’t...
The “Insignificant” Details That Bring Historical Writing Alive
As a writer, the key is not so much assembling reams and reams of material, but finding the details that make a period or...
How Design Can Cause People Not To Use Public Space
In cities around the globe – from Algiers, Auckland and Chicago to Hanoi, Mexico City and Seoul – research shows that transforming public spaces markedly affects the diversity of what...
Harold Rosenberg Was A Towering Critic. How Did He Disappear?
One of Rosenberg’s most celebrated essays skewered those whom he dubbed “The Herd of Independent Minds”: scholars and critics who roundly dumped on an...
The Young Conductor Who Replaced Muti On A Moment’s Notice And Wowed The Chicago...
“I wasn’t expecting it, but somehow, I took more notes than usual on the Brahms that day,” she says. - Chicago Tribune
Someone Thinks Orchestra Music Died In The 20th Century
In order to begin to reclaim orchestral music of the 20th century, John Mauceri poses the following question: “If we put aside the unquestioned...
The Cathedral Climbers Working On Salisbury Cathedral
It is neither practical, nor desirable, to keep erecting scaffolding. “Scaffolding can be intrusive. You have to attach it to the building and you...
After 51 Years, A Boston New Music Institution Calls It Quits
Boston is losing an essential purveyor of invigorating new music — after 51 years, 109 commissions, 20 recordings, and 243 world premieres. Until now,...
Movie Theatres Have An Aging Audience Problem
Older audiences will only be around so long. If you teach the rising generation that the theatrical experience is completely extraneous, that experience probably...
How Lilith Fair Changed Music 25 Years Ago
For the artists and fans who experienced it, Lilith Fair felt revolutionary. It's success upended concert industry norms and created a new place where...
Seattle To Remove Two “Culturally Inappropriate” Totem Poles From Pike Place Park
“They don't tell a story about me or my people, and it really makes me feel less-than because we are being represented by totem...
How MacIntosh’s Iconic Glasgow School Of Art Was Recreated After The Great Fire
Reflecting on the row over the second rebuild plans he describes how an academic, from the school. Professor Ray McKenzie, had said publicly that...
A Great Writer/Editor Partnership: Robert Caro And Robert Gottleib
When Caro was almost finished with “The Power Broker,” he got an agent, Lynn Nesbit, and she matched him up with Gottlieb. If there...
YouTube Has Grown Its Own Critic Class
Importantly, these commentators were not professional journalists, concerned experts or onlookers from outside the YouTube world. They, and their audiences, come from the same...
Remembering Flame-throwing Musicologist Richard Taruskin
Dr. Taruskin was said to have grown gentler in his later years and he befriended many young critics and scholars, the same sorts of...
Jim Oestreich Remembers Richard Taruskin
His keeper, not his editor, I used to call myself in affectionate jest — and with enormous pride and respect. - The New York...
Met Museum Raises Admission Price To $30
New York state residents, along with tri-state students, will still retain the option to pay as they wish but for all other visitors, tickets...
Your Fitbit Is Only A Materialistic Delusion Of Who You Are
In a world flooded with such new devices, it is not at all surprising to find that many people now are not even aware...
Musicologist Richard Taruskin, 77
An emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a specialist in Russian music, Mr. Taruskin was the author of a number of...
Australian Museums Struggle With Framing Truths About First Nations History
‘Ultimately, it’s about laying the foundations to encourage students’ awareness that multiple perspectives of history exist, and trying to do that in the...
Canadian Entertainment Industry Census: A Diversity Problem
A voluntary self-identification census carried out among Directors Guild Canada members found 82.8 percent of the guild’s membership identified as white. Another 18.3 percent...
Shocked And Confused: Why Is Montreal’s McGill Conservatory Of Music Suddenly Shutting Down?
Administrators said the Conservatory had gone from 550 students in pre-pandemic years to 300 last year, to a projection of less than 100 students...
Where Do Our Minds Go When We’re Under Anesthesia?
So far, scientists have learned that, generally speaking, anesthetic drugs render people unconscious by altering how parts of the brain communicate. But they still...
Some Of The World’s Best Authors Have Written Books Which Won’t Be Published For...
Every year since 2014 a prominent writer to submit a manuscript, and the commissioning will continue until 2113. Then, a century after the project...
Major Collector Comes Under Scrutiny For Family’s Nazi Past
As arts funders have come under scrutiny in recent years observers in Germany have raised questions about Julia Stoschek. Some have argued that there...
