Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Why We Need Poetry Right Now
Indeed, in our age of social media, words are often used as weapons. Poetry instead treats words with care. - The New York Times
Why Artists Need Mentors
Many times when teaching, (especially dance criticism or dance history) I find that many people do not know important and influential dancers, teachers or...
Is There Too Much Music?
he source of discovery is the last 70 years of music. It's all brand new, right now. So you're competing with every song that...
The End Of Fans?
At this tumultuous moment, I think we each have to decide for ourselves which pieces of art to keep, and which to throw out....
Famed Music School Falls Silent As Taliban Take Afghanistan
"The students are very fearful about their future - not just of their education and their programme, but also about their life. They...
America’s Founding Colonial Stories Are Nice Fairy Tales. The Reality Was Less Flattering
The political leaders and famous personages that tower over our imaginations are condensed to life-size. They make grubby, horrid choices; they bumble, fumble, and...
The Quiet Value Behind The Enduring Success Of “Antiques Roadshow”
In a show whose segments are punctuated by dollar amounts, there’s actually a quiet, persistent suggestion to direct our aspirations somewhere else: history, family,...
Our Misperceptions Of How The Brain Works
“Scientists have searched fruitlessly for brain boundaries between thinking, feeling, deciding, remembering, moving and other everyday experiences." But these "are poor guides for understanding...
How The Counterculture Became The Main Culture
It’s a truism that high culture, as it used to be known, has been steadily losing its authority since the rise of mass culture...
How Publishing Literature Has Changed
Most authors have day jobs, which is nothing new; Herman Melville worked as a customs inspector. The difference in 2021 is that traditional side...
Data Science: The Creepiest, Most Ominous Word In Macbeth
It turns out that Macbeth uncanny flavor springs from the unusual way that Shakespeare deploys one particular word, over and over again. - OneZero
Was The Nuclear Family As Our Primary Social Unit A Mistake?
If you want to summarize the changes in family structure over the past century, the truest thing to say is this: We’ve made life...
How Finland Gets Support For The Arts? Make Politicians Museum Interns
During the internship day, decision-makers will familiarise them them with the workspaces of museum professionals, the researchers' rooms, archives and, for example, the reception...
Famous Writers Writing Books That Won’t Be Read For 100 Years
The works will be kept in a room lined with wood from the forest in the Deichman library in Oslo. One hundred years after...
A New Canon Of Climate Change Literature
It's part of a growing trend in publishing for books focused on the climate, whether from big hitters such as David Attenborough or Bill...
In Australia: Thousands Of Newly Canceled Gigs And Musicians Calling It Quits
With Australia reeling from the Delta strain, major festivals including Splendour and Bluesfest have been cancelled for the second year running, with an estimated 7,000...
COVID Has Changed How People Will Work For Non-Profits
No longer will many nonprofit (or for-profit, for that matter) employees be cowed into the belief that 60-, 80-, 100-, or 168-hour weeks are...
Dance Competitions – A Change Of Culture?
Dance competitions first emerged in the 1970s. Since then, they have spawned a distinctive, seductive subculture, mixing the hard-driving athleticism of organized sports with...
Origins Of The Term “Woke”
"A quarter of people think of it as a compliment, a quarter of people think it's an insult and the rest either don't know...
OnlyFans Reverses Ban On Sex Workers. Creators Are Still Worried…
What remains is an uncertain future for both creators and OnlyFans, which has plans to go public later this year. The site has more...
Algorithms Are Directing How I Grieve For My Dead Mother
I can hide my mom’s photos or block her zombie Facebook account. But I’ve become accustomed to grieving this way. Technology has dictated what...
Smithsonian Kicks Off Multi-Year Project To Reckon With America’s Racial History
“Giving people the reality — here’s the information, here’s a way to contextualize the moment we are in — you can’t build optimism unless you face the...
The Psychology Of Movie Trailer Music
“It’s called ‘trailerizing’ a song. That means changing every aspect of the song but leaving the lyrics. People know the lyrics. The goal is...
Canada’s National Ballet Outside (And It’s So Much More Complicated Than That)
Given such limited capacity and the pent-up eagerness of ballet fans, all four performances were fully booked almost as soon as they were announced....
Luis Alfaro’s Plan To Make LA A Theatre Dynamo
“A theater is best expressed by the work it initiates. I think it’s really important that we not just bring in the great work...