ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Douglas McLennan

Douglas McLennan
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Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal

Gaza’s Cultural Institutions Are Being Destroyed By Israel

Amid all the destruction, residents have barely had the opportunity to grapple with the loss of the densely populated enclave’s few cultural institutions that...

Seattle Area Passes Tax Increase To Add $100 Million Annual Funding For The Arts

Nearly two decades in the making and hailed as a game changer, the program and its steady stream of funds will be transformative for...

Theatre’s Year Of Struggle

Large and small venues alike were shrinking before our very eyes. Concern grew that the fabulous invalid, as the theater has long been dubbed,...

Staff Layoffs At Guggenheim Museum

When the Guggenheim raised the price for adult admissions to $30 from $25 over the summer, it cited a lack of visitors and declining membership...

What Happens When A Poor State Disinvests In Its Public Universities

The destruction of dozens of majors and careers at West Virginia University, which serves many working- and middle-class students, raises a fundamental question in...

Adam Shankman Will Be Creative Director At New DanceOne Company

Director and choreographer Adam Shankman has been named chief creative officer of DanceOne, a new brand from TZP Group. DanceOne will serve as the world’s largest dance...

John Adams On Music As Monuments

"Something struck me forcibly as I was trying to fulfill the New York Philharmonic’s 9/11 commission: America had no contemporary musical work that could...

Remembering John Byrne, Scottish Polymath And Creative Force

His desire to create extraordinary pieces of work burned fiercely to the end. A cultural polymath, Byrne traversed a number of genres throughout his...

Myths About AI And Creativity

Contrary to some beliefs, introducing AI as a technology can support and enhance creativity in educational settings. For example, generative AI tools can be used to promote...

Got Content? (The Meaninglessness Of Our Word For “Stuff”)

Google “What is Content?” and you will encounter an infinitude of web pages explaining the concept of content marketing; the indispensability of superior content...

Feeling Persistently Meh? Turns Out It’s A Real Condition

There may not appear to be a reason behind it. “You’re just sort of ‘meh,’” Dr. Shanbhag said. “And you get used to being...

Researcher Says Conan Doyle Resented The Success Of Sherlock Holmes

"He would have hated the fact that today, 93 years after his death, his historical novels lie unread, while his ‘cheap’ – but beloved...

What It Was Like At This Year’s Kennedy Center Honors

Everything that’s usually on the menu was present. Hair-raising musical performances. Touching tributes from past honorees. Biographical videos. Amusing bits. Herbie Hancock. - Washington...

A New Model For Financing Prestige Movies?

The foundations and donors who wrote the checks to produce it — including the Ford Foundation, nonprofits funded by Melinda French Gates, Laurene Powell...

A Study Of American School Internet Censorship Data Suggests Some Worrying Issues

Our analysis of more than 117 million censorship records confirms what students and civil rights advocates have long warned: Web filters are preventing kids...

The Band Kiss Has Stopped Performing. The Virtual Band Kiss Will Go On Performing

The technology, originally developed for the Abba Voyage show, will allow them to stay on the road in retirement. Gene Simmons said the band...

Spotify Says It Will Shed 17 Percent Of Its Workers

The figure represents around 1,500 of the Sweden-based streamer’s 9,000 staff, as is the result of economic growth slowing “dramatically,” according to Spotify CEO Daniel...

What We Learn From Critics About Thinking About Art

 Out of what soil spring these beings who absorb art and photosynthesize it into pronouncements, or, worse, into principles. - The New Yorker

Documentary Makers And Their Subjects — It Gets Complicated When The Film Is Successful

When the story becomes a marketable product, the production conditions, processes and relationships behind the storytelling are further obscured. It devalues the passage of...

Judge Strikes Down Montana’s TikTok Ban

“The current record leaves little doubt that Montana’s Legislature and attorney general were more interested in targeting China’s ostensible role in TikTok than with...

A Remarkable Change In American Theatre Leadership

Until recently, the artistic director has been thought of as the singular person whose vision drives the programming and culture of a theatre. That...

Study: Links Between Your Music Taste And Your Moral Compass

Specifically, musical elements like pitch and timbre emerged as crucial predictors for values of Care and Fairness, while sentiments and emotions expressed in lyrics...

Why Destroying Cultural Icons Leaves A Deep Wound

Artefacts that have been around for a thousand years or more have been destroyed in Russia’s illegal war. However, facing up to the issues,...

The Medieval Twitter Account With 700,000 Followers

Olivia Swarthout is the researcher behind the popular art history-inspired social media account Weird Medieval Guys, which has attracted nearly 700,000 followers on X,...

Playwright And Artist John Byrne, 83

His much-loved BBC series Tutti Frutti, about an ageing rock’n’roll band attempting a tour of Scotland, starred Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson and won...
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