Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Behind The Ailey Company’s Contract Dispute With Its Dancers
Most audience members – and most aspiring and local dancers – would be shocked to realize how little some of the best and most...
How Vijay Iyer’s Musical Taste Was Built
When you’re writing orchestral music, you’re often asked: “What kind of forces will you need?” It’s both militaristic and kind of Jedi. I think...
TV Takes TikTok To Create A Dance Show
… a TikTok-style dance challenge. The kind that creators on the app are known for filming in their bedrooms, pajamas optional. - The New...
Jacob’s Pillow Rebuilds And Recreates
The Ted Shawn Theater is now open again for business, half of its exterior wood weathered and historical-looking, the other half clean and new....
The Next Generation Of Gig-Share Is Worker Co-ops
“Platform co-ops offer a more democratic and equitable alternative to traditional companies, and they have the potential to create good jobs, boost local economies,...
Love Wordle? Here’s The Art World Version
One of the latest “Wordle” copycats challenges players not with letters, but with images plucked from the National Gallery of Art. - Washington Post
We Live In The Golden Age Of Scams
If COVID-19 has been an X-ray of society’s fracture points, scammers have not only looked at the film but pressed on the wounds. Since...
Giant Immersive Art Comes To The Vegas Strip
The 17,000-square-foot space features “The Gallery: Mona Lisa’s Perception,” featuring six digital versions of the “Mona Lisa,” hanging in one room. At first, they...
Over-55 Americans Will Soon Outnumber Those Under 18. New Study Explores Their Engagement With...
The survey compared responses by older adults to those under 55, and while there were definitely differences, the interests of the two groups often...
How Dishes Became A Canvas For Propaganda
Stocks of unpainted, snow-white china became a tantalising canvas for avant-garde artists keen to express their utopian ideologies and rouse enthusiasm for the new...
Does Junk Media Rot Your Brain?
The underlying logic of brain-rot, a messy mutual entanglement between brain and culture, endures. In particular, the idea that lower, popular forms of culture...
Peter Gelb On Reinventing The Met Opera
"I’m sure the Met is thought of as a conservative institution in some quarters, I believe this is no time to be conservative....
How Technology Is Rediscovering Lost Art
Much as AI, or machine learning, has been woven into the rest of our daily lives, it's now taking a shot at resurrecting precious cultural artefacts...
The Man Who Declared The End Of History Goes To War With History
It turns out that Francis Fukuyama doesn’t like what history’s end has wrought. Liberalism has been corrupted by bad actors on all sides who...
Report: 36 Countries Have More Trees Now Than They Did In 2000
Countries—including Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Ireland, and Uruguay, and Bangladesh—had a net gain in tree cover, according to new data from researchers at the University of Maryland...
Talent Agency Mega-Merger: CAA Buys ICM
The deal reduces the number of top agencies to three dominant players: CAA, WME and United Talent Agency. ICM is the fourth largest firm....
The Real Power Of Our Age: Fandom
"For me, at least, fandom has started to feel like a phenomenon akin to cryptocurrency or economic populism—a history-shaping force that we’d be foolish...
Ted Cruz Goes To War With A Muppet Again Over Vaccines
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) shared the clip on Twitter — and blasted the popular PBS/HBO children’s show for allowing Elmo to “aggressively advocate for...
The Point: Criticism That “Stakes A Claim”
I do think the purpose of criticism is to make an assertive claim for what is there. When Toni Morrison speaks of the “Africanist...
The Ghosts Inhabiting Cities
Most metropolises are overrun with ghosts; from New York to London, Mumbai to Shanghai, a simple Google search throws up an encyclopaedia’s worth of...
Woody Allen Says He’ll Retire From Directing
“I’ll probably make at least one more movie. A lot of the thrill is gone,” Allen said. - Variety
The Benefits Of A Long Career In One Orchestra
In this respect, the orchestral world is like a throwback to the postwar employment landscape, when it was not uncommon to spend your entire...
Iconic Daytime Shows Have Called It Quits This Year
A sea of change has hit the daytime format this year as a slew of veteran hosts call it a day. As audiences flock...
Stunning Daylight Attack On TEFAF Fair
In a brazen raid on the Tefaf art fair, one of the men was filmed smashing cases with a sledgehammer while accomplices kept visitors...
What Print Books Are In A Time Of Digital Dominance
Perhaps the term “antiquarian,” which traditionally referred to old, valuable books, often first editions and manuscripts, now seems to me to apply to all...
