Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Countries Are Only A Social Construct
A common mistake is to confuse a country with its inhabitants with its government. This leads to statements that are strictly meaningless at best...
Why The Rich Stay Rich
The Italian communist Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) would argue that it was precisely through the proliferation of such norms in our culture—wherein the inequalities of...
Overwhelmed By Culture (What To Do?)
For years now, each day has brought a torrent of new TV shows to watch, movies to see, albums to listen to, podcasts and...
Sensitivity Readers? Why Publishers Need Them
"My background as an author is in young adult fiction, an area in which sensitivity readers are common, especially in the US, so I’m...
Is Tourism Bad For Us?
Tourism is attractive because it underwrites a desire that, when we go overseas, stuff doesn’t get too strange, risky or foreign. Increasingly, we travel...
Can The New Bandcamp Save Indie Music?
Bemused gamers and tech experts, meanwhile, wondered what possible uses a company such as Epic – itself 40% owned by Chinese gaming megacorp Tencent...
Peak Subscribe: Are You Paying For Too Many Subscriptions?
The maturity of the subscription market varies by industry, but in some of the categories best known for these kinds of services, there are...
Netflix Quits Russia
Earlier this week, the streaming service had announced that it would pause all future projects and acquisitions from Russia, joining a growing list of...
Meet The Russian Oligarch On The Guggenheim’s Board (Until Last Week)
“Vladimir Potanin has advised the Board of Trustees of his decision to step down as Trustee effective immediately,” the museum said. “The Guggenheim accepts this...
How The Hermitage Artwashes Russia
According to the 2021 State of Artistic Freedom Report by Freemuse, Russia detained 17 artists in 2020, a number exceeded only by Cuba. Artists are regularly...
International Arts Organizations Scrutinize Russian Artists
Institutions are demanding that artists who have supported Mr. Putin in the past issue clear condemnations of the Russian president and his invasion as...
Kyiv Dancers Quit To Fight In Ukraine Military
Images have circulated online of a principal dancer and ballerina at the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, in camouflage holding weapons. - ClassicFM
Cultural Institutions Wrestle With Whether To Ban Russian Artists
As the war in Ukraine enters its second week, cultural institutions worldwide are grappling with the question of whether to boycott Russian artists, in...
The Politicization and Artistic Downfall Of Valery Gergiev
The idea was that Gergiev could somehow retract his blatant politicization of music and adopt a purist guise when he walked onstage. In fact, if he...
Innovation Is Fine. But Wisdom Creates Longterm Success
Fairly or unfairly, many tech companies with disproportionately young employees and leaders have gone from a shining example of how entrepreneurial capitalism can improve...
Tennessee Is Fighting A Culture War Over What Books Students Can Read
“It looks like the entire curriculum is developed to normalize sexuality, normalize nudity and normalize vulgar language,” said Mike Cochran, a school board member....
European Theatre Pioneers A Kind Of Tour That’s Climate-Friendly
It is an unusual production model in European theater, where directors tend to have the final word on every iteration of their work. The...
New Clue In The Gardner Museum Heist?
Anthony Amore, chief of security for the Gardner museum, tells Boston 25 News that a recent tipster prompted officials to take another look at the murder...
Valery Gergiev, Political Cautionary Tale?
What is happening here represents just the latest, though perhaps the most glaring, iteration of an age-old conundrum. What expectations do we have — should we...
Star Russian Conductor Suspended For Starting Performance With A Wish For Peace
Before the performance, conductor Ivan Velikanov — a star on the Russian music scene hailed as "the new Teodor Currentzis" — came on stage, gave...
Famous Hollywood Celebrity Biographer Dishes On Herself
Regardless of one’s opinions about Kitty Kelley, or her methodology, there can be no denying that her brand of take-no-prisoners celebrity journalism — the...
Behind The Scenes Of Furious Debates About Changing The Oscars Broadcast
In the end, rather than dropping 12 categories altogether from the telecast, the Academy was able to satisfy ABC with the current plan, which...
A Year Ago A Beeple Sale Started An NFT Gold Rush. So Has It...
In the 12 months since, something like $44 billion has been spent on about six million NFTs, usually issued to certify digital creations but...
Why The Sale Of Bandcamp Matters To Musicians
With Bandcamp’s model, buying an album feels like an investment in both the music and the artist, and as a result it’s the best...
New Dr. Seuss Books Inspired By His Sketches
Leaving nothing to chance after the previous book banning, the new works will be written, drawn and edited by what’s described as a group...
