Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Painter Of Trump Portrait He Criticized Says Her Career Is Threatened
Sarah Boardman won a nationwide “call for artists” by the Colorado state government to paint its official portraits of Obama and Trump. At the...
The Case For Canada Growing To 100 Million People (It Currently Has 40M)
Proponents say that reaching the 100 million target would give Canada the centres of gravity it needs for such clusters to form; critics say...
How Streaming Services Might Get Caught In Trump Tariffs
Generally, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are just that: services, not goods, so they don’t face any kind of markup when they...
More Than 1,200 Humanities Grants Canceled By Trump’s NEH
The loss of potentially thousands of such grants has left recipients reeling and prompted some organizations to mobilize, as millions of dollars of previously...
Americans Say They Want To Read More Books. So Why Don’t They?
According to a new NPR/Ipsos poll, reading is something a majority of Americans enjoy, and want to get better at. But it's nowhere near...
The “Last Repair Shop” Instrument Repair Service For LA Schools, Gets A Big Boost
At the emotional core of “The Last Repair Shop” are the stories of the dedicated technicians and the students who benefit from the free...
Can The Kennedy Center Survive The Next Four Years?
So many artists have quietly pulled out of the 2025-26 season that the center has had to keep delaying its schedule announcements. - The...
Canadian Artists Are Canceling Gigs In The US
"Unfortunately I had to cancel all my upcoming events in the United States as I felt unsafe traveling, especially after watching students and university...
Why The College Admissions Essay Is A Very Bad Idea
The college essay is a deeply unfair way to select students for top colleges, one that is much more biased against the poor than...
What It’s Like being A Librarian In The Time Of Trump
“I see all that being as a measure of: ‘If we fly under the radar, we’ll be safe,’” they said. “But it’s sad because...
San Francisco Agency Funding In Disarray, Payments Missed
The latest target is San Francisco’s Dream Keeper Initiative, introduced in 2021 at the height of the “defund the police” movement... But now, a variety...
Are Our Storytelling Tropes Insufficient For The Complexity Of Today?
Unfortunately, the dominance of psychological narratives manifests in the misplaced hopes we cast onto individual leaders – whether in the political, technological, social or...
These Are the 381 Books Removed From Naval Academy Library Shelves
The list also includes “Memorializing the Holocaust,” Janet Jacobs’s examination of depictions of women in the Holocaust, and “How to Be Anti-Racist” by Ibram...
Amazon Backlash: Independent Bookstores Rise Up
Amazon boycotts are gaining more widespread attention as some people seek ways to protest the growing influence of billionaires in government and public life. - Wisconsin Public...
How Will Trump’s Tariffs Affect The Art Markets?
“Ordinarily, paintings and sculptures are exempt from customs duties,” says Nicholas M. O’Donnell, a partner in the Boston law firm Sullivan & Worcester, but...
Why Are Musicians Turning To OnlyFans? They Need The Money!
It quickly garnered a reputation as a hub for sexual content, given that it gave adult performers and sex workers the ability to create and upload...
Texas Legislator Proposes Bill To Fine Museums For Content
On March 6, representative David Lowe filed House Bill 3958, which outlines a proposed civil penalty against any museum showing “certain obscene or harmful material.”...
1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia
By caving to Trump’s demands and failing to protect international students, the letter says, Columbia has participated in an “authoritarian assault on universities” aimed at “destroying their role as...
So What Is Gregorian Chant Outside The Church?
Put another way, this monk is acknowledging the spiritual potential of Gregorian chant while warning against decoupling it from a specifically Catholic liturgy. -...
What Even Is A Broadway Opening These Days?
Opening night is not a Broadway show’s first performance in front of a paying audience, as it used to be many decades ago. That first show...
Tourism Is A Form Of Culture. Other Countries Are Advising Their Citizens To Be...
These advisories are vague. They do not instruct anyone not to visit the United States, as they might Iran or North Korea. But they...
The Dangers For American Arts Under Trump
The Kennedy Center was once the place where politics, the arts and debate met. Historically, it has been a propellant of diversity and inclusion....
The Dying Art Of Steel-Cut Letters
Cutting punches, the first step in traditional typesetting, is the meticulous craft of carving letterforms into small steel billets. - Hyperallergic
Remnick: Trump Is Taking Aim At Rewriting American History
As is true of autocracies everywhere, this Administration demands a mystical view of an imagined past. In late March, Trump issued an executive order...
London’s National Gallery Offers A Sleepover In The Galleries Prize
For the first time in its history, the National Gallery in London is offering an overnight stay to the lucky person who wins its new prize...
