Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Meet The “Architectural Terrorist”
Having been stamped with the label of postmodernism – out of favour since the 1990s, when his work was described as “architectural terrorism” –...
I Was In A Broadway Show. I Found Out I Was Fired On Social...
My agent didn’t know anything about it either, until he checked his email and saw he’d received a message less than half an hour...
What The Met’s Out-Of-Touch Gala Says About Where We Are
Even the Met’s own head of costume has said; “I think the power of fashion is that it can reflect the zeitgeist.” So what...
Questions About The Quality Of The Rebuilding Of The Glasgow School Of Art
The rebuilt of Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building "favours the cheapest over the most suitable bid" according to a Glasgow architect. - Glasgow Live
Canadians Debate What Canadian “Content” Is
The definition of Canadian content is at the heart of a bill before Parliament that would make streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime...
Conservators Appalled That Kim Kardashian Wore Marilyn Monroe’s Famous Dress
Textile conservators and fashion curators are appalled that beauty mogul Kim Kardashian donned Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Jean Louis gown for the 2022 Met Gala....
Another Grand Sweeping Narrative Of History (and It’s Optimistic)
Whether or not you have a “future-oriented mindset” – in other words, how much money you save and how likely you are to invest...
The Workers Who Checked COVID Status For Broadway Theatres
“Our team is largely made up of lots of actors, stage managers, company managers, all of whom work in the theater. Nobody has cared...
Facebook Drops Podcasts
Meta Platforms is confirming it will stop offering podcast integration and close down its overall audio hub in the coming weeks. “We’re constantly evaluating...
How Cyber Data Tools Can Empower Arts Organizations
“Arts organizations have access to a wealth of data and they don’t know how to use it, beginning with the days of Ticketmaster, when...
The Dispute Behind A Problematic NY City Ballet Retirement
The dispute provides a window into the complex, often fraught dynamics of City Ballet, a close-knit company in which relatives, spouses and romantic partners...
The News Envelope That Defines Your Information Bubble
Within that media ecosystem, narratives around liberal bias, anti-expertise narratives, and the idea that if something was coming out of an institution, you couldn’t...
A Big New Foundation Funder For The Arts
A preliminary estimate of the worth of the collection is $180 million, according to Christie’s, and the designated beneficiaries include leading California-based organizations with...
What The Embattled Guston Show Says About Our Critical Discourse
Statements about art from inside the silos are considered absolutely true, but not in a general, humanistic way. Thus balkanized, the art world increasingly...
The Physical (And Spiritual) Power Of The Vibrations From A Single Musical Note
Though horribly abused and exploited by various New Age fads over the years, the old intuition still holds: vibrations reveal a lot about life,...
If America Didn’t Already Have Public Libraries, We’d Never Invent Them Today
I can imagine the internet hot take: Why punish people who can afford to buy books by making them free to read for everyone?...
The Essential Problem When Writing About Music
As far as I can tell, most writing about music is built on analogies and cliches. This is understandable; you can’t describe music literally...
How James Corden Turned His Show Into A Social Media Phenomenon And Changed Late...
"What James Corden has done incredibly well is to leverage this TV content, and amplify it with social media to create fame." - BBC
Polish Government Replaces Museum Director For One More Ideologically Aligned
“I am not going to get rid of the conceptual art that was acquired for the collection and is exhibited. But I intend to...
These Are The Books School Districts Are Being Forced To Ban
The United States is facing an unprecedented wave of schoolbook banning. PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression, tallied 1,586 book bans in...
Do Arts Non-Profits Do Things Backwards?
Solving the external problem has to come first. Then a good nonprofit strategizes the second part. Good faith efforts require that to happen in that...
Are Big Stars Still A Draw On Broadway?
You bet. The relationship an audience has to a Broadway star is all the more intense for being in-person. Knowing a body in space,...
Something New In Hollywood: The 50-Something Female Lead
It’s been a slow burn, but Hollywood is finally recognizing a trend corporate America long ago seized upon: The spending power of the 50-something...
Smithsonian Announces New Policy Of Ethic Returns Of Art
“My goal was very simple: Smithsonian will be the place people point to, to say ‘This is how we should share our collections and...
Is Historic Preservation Hurting Our Cities?
As many cities today grapple with unprecedented housing shortages and cost-of-living issues, the degree to which historic-preservation laws can function as a pretext for preventing change entirely...
