Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Peter Martins: My Life In Ballet
My instructors grudgingly conceded I had some talent but were skeptical I could develop it fully. These doubts forged a quality in me that...
The Growing Importance Of Being Idle
Exhortations toward work as the path to truth, meaning, virtue, and salvation suggest the contemporary valuation of work is—although not universal—more than the legacy...
How MTV’s “The Real World” Pioneered Today’s Reality TV
In many ways, “The Real World” was a great leap forward from the proto-reality ventures of the past. These attempts had ranged from culture-rattling...
Why Does The UK Conservative Party Not Want To Talk Arts And Culture?
The Conservatives state that culture and sport lie “at the core of our national and local identities” and pledge to “support our world-leading creative...
In Praise Of Ambivalence
Ambivalence can be quicksand, slowly swallowing us whole. But some ambivalence, as lyric poetry taught me, is essential to a life. - Poetry Foundation
Of Balanchine And Graham: Important Lessons About Legacy
If the intertwined fates of Balanchine and Graham tell us anything, it should be that trajectories of dance styles and legacies of choreographers are just...
Debating How Babies Learn Language
First, is language acquired by specialized mental processes that are dedicated to this task or learned by general-purpose processes used for a variety of...
Boston MFA Director To Step Down
His tenure at the MFA was marked by both successes and challenges, from the overhaul of many galleries, conservation facilities and education programmes, to...
Your Off-Broadway Show Is A Hit. Should You Move It To Broadway?
With production costs soaring, is it even worth moving a hit off-Broadway show to Broadway anymore? - TheatreMania
Scottish Arts Leaders Brace For Big Funding Cuts, Exodus Of Talent
The possibility of wide-ranging cuts has emerged as industry leaders warned of growing evidence of an exodus of talent from performers and arts workers...
Why Evolving Our Morality Is Really Hard
When we’re told that something we see as ordinary – like eating meat – is actually wrong, our first reaction is to get irritated and dismissive. If...
Rise Of The Efficiency Gurus
We flaunt long workweeks and disdain anyone working less than full-time. But we’re likewise seduced by get-rich-quick schemes and “labor-saving” gimmicks. The rich may...
The Radical Meaning Of Paradigm Shifts
Paradigms and normal science? Sure. But the truly radical idea here is that outsiders—in this case, historians—can offer better insight into the inner workings...
Donald Sutherland, 88
Across six decades, starting in the early 1960s, he appeared in nearly 200 films and television shows — some years he was in as...
How Architecture Is Defending Ukraine
In the third year of this epochal war — which has destroyed some 210,000 buildings, according to a recent New York Times investigation — Russian forces...
When, Actually, Is A Crisis An Opportunity?
Overall, we can think of a crisis as an emergency situation requiring a bold decision to go in one direction rather than another. So...
Brooklyn Academy Of Music Charts A New Path
Like many nonprofit arts organizations, BAM has struggled financially since the pandemic, and its annual operating budget dropped. It has also been buffeted by...
Viewers Are Not Just Ditching Cable TV, They’re Leaving Live TV
Cord Cutting is growing faster than ever but many cord cutters are moving away from live TV service. In the first quarter of 2024...
World’s Largest Music Company Teams Up With Startup To Offer Artists AI Voices
Aside from merely making a copy of a voice, MicDrop purports to offer a voice-to-instrument function, similar to the features that can make keyboards...
AI Is Spamming Up Academic Journals
The fake journals show how easy it is to game the systems used to evaluate researchers for promotions and hiring — and this could...
Why Is Netflix Taking Over Dead Department Stores In Malls?
The initial Netflix House locations will open in “two of the most popular shopping centers in America,” according to Netflix, the Galleria Dallas and the...
Culture War: Fighting Over Palm Springs’ Marilyn Statue
In the rest of the country, they’re arguing about statues of Confederate generals. In Palm Springs, they’re arguing about Marilyn Monroe’s underpants. This is...
How A 380-Year-Old Newspaper Reinvented Itself Almost Overnight
Wiener Zeitung is now WZ, an about-face from its roots in print and an aging audience. WZ has a dedicated website, several newsletters, podcasts, and...
Entries Are Surging For Australia’s Art Competitions. Why?
‘I definitely think that over the COVID-19 lockdown period people discovered a new talent or passion for art. And I think now, we are...
Where Have Broadway’s Suburban Audiences Gone?
An unprecedented 14 new shows opened in April. A wide slate with something for everyone. Yet, still, suburban visitors to Broadway are down roughly...