Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Data: Venice’s Tourist Visitor Tax Didn’t Reduce Crowds
Data found that during the 29 dates the initial €5 access fee was in force in 2024, Venice received on average 7,000 more visitors...
Paris Opera Dancers On Strike
The strike, following unsuccessful negotiations, concerns the remuneration of preparation time before performances. According to the union, only six hours of monthly preparation are...
Warner Restructures Its Networks Into Streaming And Not
The company's new global linear networks division will house its networks of news, sports, scripted and unscripted programming like CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and...
Seattle Art Museum Guards Agree To New Contract
“While we did not secure all the improvements we had hoped for, the union was able to secure a number of wage and benefit...
Harper Collins’ CEO Has Some Ideas About AI In Publishing…
“A book sits atop a large language model, allowing readers to converse with an A.I. facsimile of its author.” At last: No more having...
WWII Teenager’s Diary Records How Victims Used Culture To Fight Back
The diary that Yitskhok Rudashevski kept from June 1941 to April 1943, written entirely in Yiddish, contains references not only to folklore from the Vilna Ghetto,...
Author James Patterson Gives Christmas “Bonuses” To Bookstore Workers
“Booksellers save lives. Period,” Patterson said in a statement released Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. “I’m happy to be able to...
The Amazing Kreskin, 89
Just what was Kreskin’s talent? “I am not a psychic, an occultist or fortune teller. I am not a mind reader, medium or hypnotist....
An Ode To Harlem’s Apollo Theatre
The theater symbolizes the many eccentrics and geniuses that abound in this country. It’s an enabler of dreamers and risk-takers. It’s a place where...
The Fierce Aesthetics (And Historical Trolling) Of The London Contemporary Music Festival
Art is a con. That’s why it’s great. I’ve always said art should lower gross domestic product; it shouldn’t be there to bolster efficiency, or do...
Sometimes Insularity And Isolation Is Better For A Thriving Culture
The cultural ideas (what was originally meant by ‘memes’) that are most suited to global dominance crowd out cultural ideas that developed locally and...
Influencer Lawsuit Asks: Can You Copyright A “Vibe?”
What might appear to be a superficial spat over sweaters and hairstyles could actually be a legal fight that gets at the heart of...
Scholarly Publishers Are Selling Papers To AI Companies
Several scholarly publishers have forged agreements with technology companies looking to use content to train the large language models (LLMs) that underlie their AI tools. A...
Transformative: New Seattle Sales Tax For The Arts Generates Tens Of Millions Of Dollars
For context, 4Culture usually sends out about $10 million to $15 million per year. With Doors Open, the agency’s 2025 grants are increasing to...
How 20th-Century Writers Marched The Novel To Oblivion
Novelists increasingly defined their craft by opposing tradition, and so placed themselves at loggerheads with most of their possible audience. There is something essentially...
Statistical Profile: Which Artists Are Being Shown In America’s Museums
I looked at more than 200 museums, and counted which artists were on view any time during December. The resulting list includes a little...
Striking Seattle Art Museum Guards Allege Union-Busting
“A full-time job should serve the basic things you need to take care of yourself, housing, food, health, even mental health. I’ve struggled to...
UK Theatres Warn Of Cuts Because Of Cost Increases
UK Theatre joint chief executive Claire Walker warned that “unplanned increases in staffing costs” were adding to a theatre sector already at “risk”. -...
Terry Loftis Named New CEO Of New Jersey Symphony
Loftis goes to the New Jersey Symphony from his position as Chief Advancement and Revenue Officer of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO), where he...
Phantom AI-Generated News Websites Are Taking Over Old Community Newspapers
The reality was that none of the people allegedly working for the Ashland Daily Tidings existed, or at least were who they claimed to...
Where’s The Next “New Berlin”?
Lately, “new Berlin” has become shorthand for an under-visited European city that is cheap, fun, and up-and-coming. Ever since creeping gentrification and a massive...
The Creator Economy Is Huge: 360M Creators In 20 Countries
They generate a cumulative economic impact of $368 billion, a figure comparable to the GDP of Hong Kong and more than the entire economic...
Musicians Sign Letter Opposing Attacks On Internet Archive
“We, the undersigned musicians, wholeheartedly oppose major record labels’ unjust lawsuit targeting the Internet Archive,” the Musicians for Fairness and Preservation Open Letter reads. “We don’t...
Why Are People Hating On This Year’s Pantone Color Of The Year?
Today alone, people have been coming out in droves to express their deep-seated hatred for or utter confusion about Mocha Mousse in various comments sections. USA Today even insinuated...
Here Are 2025’s Golden Globe Nominations
On the TV side, FX/Hulu’s “The Bear” continues its trophy domination with the most nominations for any series; that’s five for the restaurant-set dramedy....
