Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
JD Vance Booed At Kennedy Center Concert
On Thursday night, the Kennedy Center concert hall was awash in nearly a minute of howling, passionate booing. It started with one or two boos...
OpenAI Urges Trump Whitehouse To Allow Its AI To Train On Copyrighted Work
In its proposal, OpenAI urged the federal government to enact a series of “freedom-focused” policy ideas, including an approach that would no longer compel...
What Cancellation Of Big Bird Tells Us About The State Of Our Public Good
The cancellation of Big Bird and co. would be a loss, but there’s something bigger going on. Sesame Street’s fate is symptomatic of a larger...
Italy’s Politicians Fight Over Protecting Heritage
The Italia Nostra heritage group warned that “downgrading interest in landscape” posed a “serious risk to the heritage of the widespread community”. - The...
Understanding Music Editing
Like a page turner for a pianist or a sheet music librarian, music editor is the kind of job that only the idiosyncratic structures of...
Actors Unions Frustrated In AI Negotiations With Video Game Industry
According to SAG-AFTRA, a recent proposal submitted by the major video game makers was filled with “alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable...
Consolidating Culture To Death
he past several decades have seen rampant consolidation via mergers and acquisitions across creative fields, all of it backed by rivers of Wall Street...
How Conquering Other Nations Came To Be Seen As A No-No
It is rare to find anyone who will openly support the idea that annexing territory from another state, after forcibly conquering it, could be...
Imposter Syndrome Is Systemic
Competency checking—whether intentional or unconscious—undermines those who challenge traditional norms of leadership and success. Imposter syndrome, however, masquerades as an internal failing, leading women...
How To Spot A Fake Masterpiece? Little Things Count
The divergence of opinion between the museum's experts and those who doubt the work's authenticity opens a curious space in which to reflect on...
Authors Mock Meta For “Bob Dylan Defense” In Copyright Case
The authors mocked Meta for raising what they call "the Bob Dylan defense" of its torrenting, citing song lyrics from "Sweetheart Like You" that...
Spotify Is Paying Record Royalties. So Why Are Artists Unhappy?
Streaming’s payment system, devised back when it generated so little money that the difference between 13% and 15% was almost irrelevant, is in dire...
Trump To Slash Agency That Cares For 26,000 Artworks In The Federal Government
Workers expressed fear that the cuts will threaten a collection of precious art housed in federal buildings across the country, including Alexander Calder’s 1974...
Meow Wolf To Open Giant Immersive Space In New York
New York would be the company’s largest investment in a single location, requiring tens of millions of dollars and collaboration between nearly 500 artists...
Why Canada’s CBC Is More Important Than Ever
According to survey results, Canadians already see “local news” outlets as a first resort in wildfires or a public health crisis. 79 per cent also...
NYC Fund To Distribute $60M To More Than A “Thousand” Arts Institutions
Unveiled in February, this year’s CFD will distribute a new record of $59.3 million—north of $1 million more than the previous record—in grants to...
Philanthropist Invests $5 Million Each In Milwaukee’s Major Arts Organizations
The Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Repertory Theater each received a gift of $5 million from philanthropists Ellen and Joe Checota,...
Greek Politician Detained After Allegedly Vandalizing Paintings In Museum
Four works at The National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum in Athens were vandalised earlier this week, allegedly by a Greek member of parliament...
People Wrote A Lot Of Poetry During The COVID Pandemic. What Does It Mean?
For most poets, pandemics could provide a context for poems, but rarely became a focus. A tome of significant poems about pandemics would only...
How To Protect Artists In The AI World?
The need for responsible AI approaches is becoming increasingly urgent as artists deal with serious concerns regarding copyright infringement and job security. In the...
First Amendment Confrontation: Police In Texas Seize Five Sally Mann Photographs From Museum Exhibition
Armed with a warrant, Fort Worth police reportedly seized five photos from the exhibit and put them under lock and key—all because a few Republican officials...
OpenAI Says It Now Has An AI That Is “Really Good” At Creative Writing
That it’s experimenting with writing could suggest OpenAI feels its latest generation of models vastly improve on the wordsmithing front. Historically, AI hasn’t proven to...
What If We Just Got Rid Of Art?
If the world was wretched, shouldn’t we be transforming it, not distracting ourselves from it?... What would happen if we didn’t soothe ourselves...
FCC Investigating Public Radio Sponsorships
The request is a next step in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s investigation into whether public TV and radio stations are airing advertisements in violation of federal...
The Power Of Nothing (It’s A Mental Construct)
Our mental worlds are lively with such experiences of absence, yet it’s a mystery how the mind performs the trick of seeing nothing. How...
