Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Disney’s Huge “Snow White” Mess
At the heart of the stunning decision appears to be Disney boss Bob Iger’s determination to avoid the wrath of Trump and the MAGA movement, which has put the entertainment...
Trump Canceled Marine Band Performance With Kids. Musicians Found A Workaround
This past Sunday, at the music center at Strathmore, near Washington, 22 students who had lost their chance to play tuned up with the...
AI Versus Copyright Just Got More Hard Core: Google Gemini Removes Watermarks
Gemini 2.0 Flash will uncomplainingly create images depicting celebrities and copyrighted characters, and — as alluded to earlier — remove watermarks from existing photos. - TechCrunch
Is There Any Such Thing As A “Mainstream” Media Now?
What was once the mainstream media—the networks, the newspapers, certain magazines—years ago lost the command that it had of the nation’s attention and with...
Celine Dion Warns Fans About AI-Generated Music That Impersonates Her
“It has come to our attention that unsanctioned, AI-generated music purporting to contain Celine Dion’s musical performances, and name and likeness, is currently circulating...
The Songs Of Canada Versus Trump
The pro-Canada songs currently spreading across social media, including some by Canadian celebrities, reveal a range of reactions to Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats,...
Sofia Gubaidulina’s Place in The Musical World
Gubaidulina’s work is not the kind of thing you put on during morning yoga. She makes sounds of struggle and disorder; of awaiting some...
Balanchine Wasn’t Just Important In Dance
Balanchine’s relevance to visual art is not just in direct collaborations and affiliations with artists in his lifetime. His formal gestures and patterns make...
IATSE Stagehands Protest Show Cancelations At The Kennedy Center
“Behind-the-scenes workers need to feed our families and have neither participated in any decisions relating to booked content, nor have we considered social issues...
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...
