Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Before And After AI (Beyond Mythologies)
Should we trust the most optimistic voices coming from Silicon Valley, AI could be the vehicle we use to create boundless wealth, cure all...
Three San Francisco Music Institutions Face Big Change, Bigger Challenges
All venues were full. All audiences I joined were infectiously rapt. Yet everywhere I went there was an inescapable feeling of doom, of disquieting...
What The Voices Of AI Tell Us
Artificial intelligence stands accused of devastating the creative industries, guzzling energy and even threatening human life. Understandably, OpenAI wants a voice that makes people feel...
Young People Are Quitting Dating Apps And Figuring Out How To Meet At Real...
“Because of social media and dating apps, our generation has been spoon-fed in a lot of ways when it comes to meeting people. We’re...
Montreal Has A Unique Culture. Gentrification Is A Threat
Montreal’s role as a multilingual cultural hub—attracting talent from across the country and around the world in music, theatre, literature, dance, and even the...
How Gypsy Traditions Shaped UK Music
The lack of recognition of Gypsy and Traveller contributions to Scottish, Irish or English music styles effectively excludes these ethnic minorities from narratives of Britishness....
We Sell Art As Fame, Fame As Art. It’s Really About Market Share
Of course, Gen Xers always knew this would happen: the gradual folding of everything that could possibly be called “culture” into one image-spectacle-and-sensorium corporate...
Despairing Of The Election? Look To The Iliad
Maybe you can relate to my mood: I want this election season over with. I have no more outrage left to give, yet there...
Calgary’s Arts Commons Gets The Largest Philanthropic Gift In Canadian Performing Arts History
The downtown Calgary cultural hub has been raising funds for a $660-million transformation, which will see its existing facility upgraded, a new building added and the...
Why Some People Bloom Later In Life
Why do some people hit their peak later than others? In his book Late Bloomers, the journalist Rich Karlgaard points out that this is really...
LLM Models Show Biases Broadly Embedded Across Languages
"The data show that implicitly-measured attitudes are revealed in and perhaps reinforced by language, which is a key vehicle of transmitting culture. If we...
Why Music Labels Are Suing New AI Music Generators
The RIAA’s lawsuits use lofty language, saying that this litigation is about “ensuring that copyright continues to incentivize human invention and imagination, as it...
Brooks: Creativity Might Be A Solution For Depression
Research in neuroscience and psychology reveals that active engagement in creative pursuits is an effective way to see the world in a more positive...
Paramount Purges Access To Decades Of Shows Across Multiple Networks
Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network, TV Land, and MTV sites now point visitors to the streaming platform, effectively removing vast archives of content from...
The Decline Of Criticism Is Not The Fault Of Critics
Reflecting on our work—the theories, the methods, the artworks—has devolved into a strained bleating about our “relevance” and “value.” Criticism has become, in a...
Confusing Artists With “Creatives”
he first entry of “creativity” in a dictionary dates to 1966. This current trend of using “creativity” as corporate-speak is not a distortion of...
Generative AI Will Change How Information Is Retrieved And Shared
Although this may seem like media arcana—mere C-suite squabbles—the reality is that AI companies are envisioning a future in which their platforms are central...
In Bozeman Montana, Renewing The Idea Of West
“The program we’re building on at Tinworks connects with the American West, which is a place, a notion, an idea, and an ideal. It’s...
Small LA Food Website Had To Furlough Its Staff. Then Readers Came To The...
“I think within like 24 hours, we had gained enough members and support, donations, merch sales, to bring everyone back,” Ray said. “I think...
Does Your Reputation Depend On The Archive Of Your Work?
What is an archive? In particular, what is an archive when it is of a writer, philosopher or other thinker? Certainly, it would be...
How Social Media Has Ruined Slang
The situation has created a language crisis, in which Americans of all types and backgrounds use expressions of every provenance, destroying the power of...
While American Opera Companies Struggle, European Opera Houses Return To Form
Bolstered by significant governmental support, European companies mostly appear to have returned to a pre-pandemic status quo. A recent visit to Germany found both the Hamburg...
Pittsburgh Symphony Enters Contract Talks With Its Musicians. What’s At Stake:
The musicians’ base salary has hovered at or below $110,000 for about 15 years, with musicians handing over concessions during lean years and market...
US Charitable Giving Declined In 2023
U.S. charitable giving declined by 2.1% to US$557 billion in 2023, but the flow of funds began to stabilize following several years of volatility. -...
Can Chad Smith Reinvigorate The Boston Symphony?
Smith has big plans for Tanglewood, whose Boston Symphony season begins on July 5, just as he has a long to-do list for the ensemble...
