Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good Morning: The Bay Area has long had a thriving theatre scene, rich in new work. But theatres are falling by the dozens now,...
This Week’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: Measuring success when it comes to art has aways been problematic. Sales numbers hardly tell the real story. Attention has become the...
How Should we Measure Art?
Pre-internet, the lines were pretty clear about the binary relationship between artist and audience. Artists created and audience consumed. In today’s digital world, the landscape is fluid—we create and express our identities by what we choose to share online. Sharing, or curating what we encounter both online and in the real world, is perceived as a creative act. In the online world, art doesn’t become activated until people decide to “do” something measurable with it.
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: There are growing calls for a fundamental rethink of the structures that underpin New York's cultural life. "In its early days, the...
The Internet Has Fractured Culture So Much, The Cultural References Don’t Work For Everyone
Considering the way that many recent novels reference recent, niche cultural fragments most relevant to an incestuous class of urban media professionals, future generations...
What Made Dorothy Parker So Potent:
For such a self-professed grump, she never left a reader hanging after a seemingly desultory setup. There was always a reward. And the jokes...
International Protests At Restructuring Of Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery
More than 200 Russian curators and art historians, both in the country and in exile, have written an open letter claiming that Moscow’s State...
Where (And How) The International Book Market Is Growing
A recent Nielsen BookData and GfK Entertainment report on global book sales for the first eight months of the year shows “rising revenues in fiction, while sales of...
Is A New Generation Of Theatre Critics Around The Corner?
The 1950s undoubtedly gave us some of the most significant critics in history, but there’s no value in being intimidated by them. Golden generations are...
A Call For Systemic Change In NY’s Cultural Structures
Anyone paying attention to recent testimonies of artists, cultural workers, and leaders of arts organizations in New York City Council hearings to discuss the...
Cautionary Tale: How The Market For A Popular Artist’s Work Collapsed After His Death
The story of Scott Burton is a story about how fragile, mutable and, to some degree, arbitrary art history is. It illustrates how an...
Paris Opera’s Palais Garnier and the Opera Bastille To Close For Years Of Renovations
The closure of the almost 150-year-old edifice, one of the architectural jewels of Paris, will be followed by the closure for renovation of the opera’s...
Comcast Suggests It Might Spin Off Its Cable Channels
“We are now exploring whether creating a new well-capitalized company owned by our shareholders and comprised of our strong portfolio of cable networks would...
Story-Telling Is Integral To The Success Of Doing Science
Eventually, I would learn that stories are not just a way of communicating science; they are intrinsic to science, actually part of doing science. -...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: Just what is the obligation of an arts organization to participate in civic life? Former League of American Orchestras' CEO Jesse Rosen...
The New (Old) Soundtracks Of The TikTok Generation
Musicians are "benefiting from the capricious, catholic taste of a generation of listeners who came of age with access to nearly the entire catalog...
Troubled Royal Danish Ballet Picks A New Leader
The company announced on Thursday that Amy Watson, a California-born dancer who joined the troupe in 2000, would serve as its next artistic director. - The...
Casinos Are Big Entertainment Venues In Canada. But Are They Still Viable?
In the post-pandemic world, the entertainment industry is still trying to establish consistency. Casinos, which were once thought to be recession-proof, now struggle to...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: The illusion of the digital world is that we have access to everything and that culture is infinitely available. The reality is...
Finally a #MeToo Movement In The Music Industry?
Women have not been safe in recording studios, on tour buses, in green rooms or in offices. It’s not a bug of the music...
Just What Is “Common Sense”?
A philosophical theory can either go against common sense or it can support or justify common sense. Supporting common sense seems pointless. After all,...
How To Get Inside An Essay
I think this is important: memories and ideas happen in a place. An essay is a place for ideas; it has to feel like a place....
A New Gonzo Art Criticism
They often won’t just write about the work in question, but also about what’s going on in their lives. Digressions are frequent, sometimes even...
Why Some Art Gives You Chills (And Most Doesn’t)
I’ve come to think that “aesthetic chills” open a window onto the fact that there are decisively powerful areas of art experience that are...
What Role Should Orchestras Play In Strengthening Democracy?
It’s not enough to merely assert these values or cite the longstanding commitments to educational programs, if the deeper work of orchestras is to...