Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Struggling San Antonio Philharmonic Cancels February Concerts
The news comes as the Philharmonic is embroiled in a legal dispute with the Scottish Rite over payments related to renovations of the historic...
Trump Wants To Build A 250-Foot Triumphal Arch In Washington
Trump has grown attached to the idea of a 250-foot-tall structure overlooking the Potomac River, according to two people who spoke on the condition...
I Write For A Living. I Tested My Students. They Preferred The AI Writing...
I gave the students time to read both pieces, and then asked for their comments. To my surprise, the majority told me the AI...
How The Metropolitan Opera Got To Be In Such Dire Straits
How did America’s greatest operatic institution get to the point of needing Saudi money to cover its $330 million annual operating budget? Ticket sales...
The Latest Art Basel Opens — In Qatar
It was the unlikely, but ultimately successful, host of the 2022 soccer World Cup. Its Grand Prix has become a Formula One fixture. And this week it will...
Trump Says He’ll Close The Kennedy Center For Two Years For Renovations
“I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing...
This Week’s AJ Chronicles: Context is Survival
Existential crises have a way of forcing clarity. Whether the arts and the larger creative world are in crisis I leave for you to decide. But with weekly news of financial and organizational meltdowns, political pressures and an almost primordial angst about threats of AI, some things may be becoming
The McCallum Theatre seeks Vice President—General Manager
The McCallum Theatre seeks Vice President—General Manager. Salary range is between $170,000 and $185,000.
President & CEO – Wharton Arts
Wharton Arts welcomes nominations and applications for the newly defined leadership position of President and CEO, available in the Spring of 2026.
Chief Financial Officer – Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera welcomes applications and nominations for the position of Chief Financial Officer, available in the Spring of 2026.
Lessons From The Aztecs: Rule By Coercion Never Works
The Aztec empire did not fall because it lacked capability. It collapsed because it accumulated too many adversaries who resented its dominance. This is...
Perversely — AI Is Proving The Uniqueness Of Our Creativity
A great human artist, we’d like to believe, amplifies and defends the exceptionalist spirit of our species but, in an echo of the anxieties...
Painter Bob Ross, Public Media Rock Star
His painting are being sold to benefit public television. The latest, Change of Seasons (1990) led the sale, bringing in $787,900, more than 13 times...
If Radio Is Becoming Streaming What If NPR Ditched Radio?
What if NPR decides radio is no longer worth the hassle and puts all its efforts into streaming audio and podcasts? What if it...
Welcome To The Era Of De-Social Media
Platforms originally defined by keeping up with people you know, or have at least heard of, become something fundamentally different. - Intelligencer
Why Our Cities Need More Places Of Serenity
Perceptual psychologists have long studied what happens when people stare at uniform fields of colour without visual edges or contrasts. Sometimes, experiencing this kind...
Why More Professors Are Making Their Students Read On Paper
“The English classroom is increasingly a kind of special place where it’s still possible to converse without the screen. AI only seems to make...
Why Small Liberal Arts Colleges Are The Education Of Choice
At a small liberal-arts college, where a cohort may number fewer than 500 people, admissions officers can also take a stronger hand in assembling...
When Students Are “Customers” Education Suffers
Over the past 15 to 20 years, declining numbers of college-age Americans and a seemingly endless rise in tuition have brought about a shift in power. Students are...
Kennedy Center VP Of Artistic Planning, Resigns After Being On The Job Two Weeks
Kevin Couch, formerly the director of programming for ATG Entertainment, a British theater company, is the latest in a string of resignations and show cancellations since...
Columbia Museum of Art – Executive Director
The Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), in Columbia, South Carolina, an AAM-accredited institution, seeks an Executive Director to build upon its 75-year legacy.
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra seeks Director of Development.
The next Director of Development will lead all fundraising efforts for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra to strengthen the ISO’s visibility and supporter relationships.
BBC Told To Avoid Color-Blind Casting
The BBC has been urged to rethink color-blind casting “tokenism” and “preachy” storylines about the UK’s colonial history in scripted series, according to a major study...
How Did The Iconic “Infinite Jest” Become A Punchline?
The occasion is a moment to ask how a novel that mourns addiction and venerates humility and patience became a glib cultural punch line,...
The Washington Post Is Imploding
Under Bezos’s leadership, CEO Will Lewis has floated a bunch of proposals to make the company profitable, few of which so far resemble anything...
