Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
This AI Is My Dance Partner
“When I’m dancing with her, I feel her feeding energy back to me. It’s not quite like being on stage with another human, but...
Charlotte Symphony Busts Through Its Fundraising Goal
The orchestra unveiled details of its three-year comprehensive campaign in April 2024, after having already quietly raised $41 million since 2022. As of Wednesday,...
The Case That The World Is Still Getting Better
Rutger Bregman, 37, is a Dutch historian who has written best-selling books arguing that the world is better (mostly meaning wealthier, healthier and more...
Diversity Is Now Deeply Embedded In Today’s Theatre
"After a weekend of seeing four very different plays at four unique theatres, the word that hung in my mind was diversity. So many people...
The Influential Women Movie Critics Of Boston
During the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Boston’s daily newspapers employed some of the nation’s best-known film critics. All of them were women. They...
Diplomatic Row After Iranian Film Wins At Cannes
Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the prestigious Palme d'Or for his film It Was Just an Accident on Saturday, a political drama inspired by his time...
How The Cartoon Channel Made A Case For Animation And Fell Prey To Corporate...
Cartoon Network is an excellent case study for how the conditions of media conglomeration shape how media is made and curated. And in making...
The Point Of Mass Education? Obedience?
In the vast majority of education systems, you still see these disciplinary and coercive roots very embedded in the character of how schools today...
Fukuyama: As Science Helps Us Live Longer, The Downsides Multiply
There is a lot of happy talk among gerontologists about how people can remain open to new ideas and able to reinvent their lives...
Archaeologists Uncover Large Ancient Marble Workshop In Greece
Paros wasn’t just rich in natural resources. It was also a hub for artistry and culture. At a dig on the site of Floga,...
What’s The Rococo Remake Of The Oval Office All About?
A parade of golden objects march across the mantel, relegating the traditional Swedish ivy to a greenhouse. Gilded Rococo wall appliqués, nearly identical to...
Why Are Silicon Valley Tech Leaders So Obsessed With Tolkien?
How did a trilogy of novels about wizards and elves and furry-footed hobbits become a touchstone for right-wing power brokers? How did books that...
The West Prizes Individualism. But It Breeds A Mindset That Isn’t Always Best For...
Even when we criticise individualism, we remain entrenched in individualist modes of thinking. Liberal and conservative, religious or secular, hip-hop or punk or country...
People Love Janacek’s Music When They Hear It. So Why Isn’t He More Popular?
They are as propulsive and viscerally affecting as Arthur Miller plays, but those who haven’t heard them often think they’re esoteric, strictly for connoisseurs....
Two Of Seattle’s Most-Established Theatres Have Merged. So What Does That Mean?
The hope among ACT staff members, both past and present, is that, as this entity prepares to launch, ACT’s artist-focused legacy continues on through...
Brian Eno: What Art Does
The art schools were easy to get into and their teachers were well regarded. The schools’ core view was that the postwar world would...
Director Michael Arden Steps Into The Broadway Light
This season, Arden has given Broadway its most surprising and heartwarming new musical, “Maybe Happy Ending.” The show, which originated in South Korea, is...
Why Homer Still Resonates 3000 Years Later
Small wonder that the “Odyssey," a staple of the Western canon and the progenitor of so much, from sci-fi to rom-com, has been enjoying...
Wisconsin Arts Organizations Struggle For Funding
In an era when Wisconsin has consistently ranked near the bottom in per capita arts spending nationwide — and with ticket sales declining since...
Politics And The NEA
“The current mood is one of dreadful anticipation of further hostility toward arts and culture, in general, and toward any institution or organization —...
Cometh Technology And The Bard Reinventeth
We can be confident technological forces beyond our control shall soon enough ensure the emergence of an altogether more “relatable” Bard for those so...
In Praise Of The Lecture
When done well, lectures can be utterly illuminating, when you are listening to a brilliant speaker discuss a topic about which they have more...
Why Have Museums Become Contentious Spaces?
Museums and cultural centers are not just the setting, the battleground, as it were, for these cultural-cum-political fights; they are seen as part of...
Public Radio Stations Sue Trump Administration Over Funding
“Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government,” Corp. for Public Broadcasting chief Patricia...
The End Of Reading And Writing?
Whether the still relatively young values of liberalism will survive, whether reading and writing will continue to be the underpinnings of culture, whether the...
