Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Authenticity Is Not A Feeling. It’s A State Of Being
Authenticity is not a feeling, but an active way of being defined by conscious attention to the fit between who we are and the...
The Tricky Negotiations Of Dark Comedy
Satire is just dark comedy’s alibi, a way for critics to render their attraction to the genre compatible with morality and self-respect. - The Point
We Assume That There’s An Order To “Laws Of Nature.” But…
In short, we assume that, thanks to science, there is a recipe of sorts for how the laws of nature work. - Aeon
Pompeii, Overrun By Tourists, Introduces New Limits
The site welcomed a record-breaking four million tourists this summer alone, and up to 30,000 per day during the peak summer season. Records were...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning:
Theater Festival Brings Solace To Capital Of Troubled Burkina FasoIn Ouagadougou, the festival Récréâtrales offers a glimmer of hope amid political instability and...
Has The Internet Trapped Fiction In A No-Man’s Land?
Even beyond social media, the internet seems to flatten prose. This is likely due to the distinct ways our brains interpret text – or,...
Pacific Symphony Picks A New Music Director
The 45-year-old Englishman enjoys a substantial social media following; he’s a fan of multidisciplinary performances combining music with other art forms; he’s passionately devoted...
Pitchfork Festival Abruptly Pulls Out Of Chicago
New York–based media giant Condé Nast, which owns Pitchfork Media, the longtime online music criticism website, broke the news on Instagram Monday that the festival would...
Constructing A Workable Philosophy For Coping With Hard Times
What is needed is a path forward that allows us to cope with tragedy and injustice without abandoning the value of people we care...
A Stroke Disabled Randy Travis From Singing. Now AI Is Helping Him Sing Again
AI gets so close to replicating Travis’s voice that it has, in a sense, brought him back as a full recording artist. The music...
What Role For The Arts In These Times? Perhaps Critics Are Needed Even More...
Our storytelling is necessarily derivative, since we’re responding to works of someone else’s imagination. And yet in how we frame the plays and operas...
Report: UK Careers In The Arts Are Dominated By The Upper Classes
A report from the Sutton Trust found stark overrepresentation in the arts for those from the most affluent backgrounds, which it defines as those...
How One Artist Uses AI To Collaborate
Mr. Leeman was most struck by the cheeky mischief — like the A.I.-generated snubs of the artist’s show that rotated on a wall display,...
Librarians, Increasingly Under Attack, Are Facing Burn Out
Librarians around the country are struggling to reconcile their desire to serve their communities with their need for self-preservation, especially as libraries have become...
Dance Is Increasingly Finding A Home In Museums
Though museums have long featured dance performances, today choreographers and companies are being given long-term residencies, exhibitions of their own with performance elements baked...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning.
In The Theatre, Digital Tickets And Programs Erase The Physical Record Of Attending This piece explores the impact of digital-only tickets and programs,...
Managing Director – Roundabout Theatre Company
Roundabout Theatre Company is seeking a strong business and operations leader to serve in partnership with with its Artistic Director to chart the future of the nation’s largest theatre producing organization.
In The Theatre, Digital Tickets And Programs Erase The Physical Record Of Attending
"It has become possible to spend an evening on Broadway without handling a physical document. Still, it may seem sensational to say that a...
Reconsidering Antiquities, American Museums And The Ethhics Of It All
The Museum of the Bible is but one more example of “the massive extraction and transfer of cultural heritage objects from the colonized to...
How Might You Use AI In Museums?
The private sector’s reluctance to solve issues that are of great importance to public institutions creates an opportunity to instead build sector-specific tools that...
To What Degree Are Russian Artists Complicit In What Russia Has Become?
“Many Russian writers and historians are complicit in facilitating this war. It is their words and thoughts over the past 350 years that sowed...
Remembering Judith Jamison
Jamison was Ailey’s muse, as complicated as that word is, and she was able to bring his feelings, his ideas to life because of...
The Rise Of The (Ubiquitous) Standing O
“Over the years it has become more and more pervasive to the point where, on those rare instances when a performance doesn’t get a...
Post-Election, Nancy Pelosi Talks About The Importance Of The Arts
“The arts are unifying to our country, and I think it’s going to be the salvation of our country,” she said Saturday at San...
The New Pause-Subscription Streaming Subscriber
New data from subscription analytics provider Antenna offer a deeper look at the subscription pausing habits customers are developing as services like Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+ become...