Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Librarians Under Threat Of Jail, Lawsuits In Trump 2nd-Term Agenda
In the foreword to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a possible second Donald Trump administration, it says “people who produce and distribute...
Does Science Fiction Help Define The Future?
Science fiction prides itself on being visionary, but like any literary genre, it just ends up examining whatever issues the author is working through...
What An Acting Ensemble Brings To The Work
“That era of celebrating acting ensembles—it’s rare, and it’s rare to find opportunities to try to do that. But in some ways, those are...
In Chechnya, A New Ban On Dance Music That’s Too Slow Or Too Fast
The Russian republic of Chechnya has banned dance music it deems either too fast or too slow, in an attempt to quash a “polluting” western influence...
At Paris’ Pasteur Institute, The Music Rocks
The Pasteur Institute has made advancements in another field — the musical arts — as some of its scientists have formed bands and other...
The Art Of Good Audio-Describing
Audio describers need to locate the gaps and silences in a show, so that their descriptions are woven around music and dialogue. It is...
When Language Gets In The Way Of Trying To Think
Why are we so afraid to use words freely, to offend with impunity? Whence arose this fetish for the ‘purity’ of the text? I...
Why It’s Difficult For Chatbots To Have Meaningful Conversations
The heart of the problem is that chatbots are designed to identify the quickest path to an answer, which rarely involves reading everything. It...
Workers Restoring San Francisco’s Castro Theatre Find 100-Year-Old Missing Arch
As with excavations near Egyptian pyramids, sometimes the team finds something they never expected. In the case of the Castro, it was an entire...
Movie Theatres’ Architecture Is Saving Some Of Them From Bankruptcy
Skyrocketing construction costs and these oddball building characteristics have prompted many property owners to cut theaters’ rent just to keep the spaces occupied. - The...
Huge Increase In Attempts To Ban Books In 2023. There Were 4240 Titles Targeted
By comparison, the number of book titles challenged annually from 2000 to 2020 was fairly stable and never exceeded 400 targets in a given...
Why Artists Are Setting Up LLCs For Their Work
With an eye on protecting themselves from one mishap or another, more and more artists have set up business entities. - The Observer
Death Of An Art Form: Music Videos
“Asking people to stay on one page for the full length of a track in an era of scrolling is really difficult. It’s now not...
The Art Of The Instagram Photo Dump
Photo dumps are reminiscent of Facebook albums: a collection of pictures you post to let the world know what you’ve been up to. Photo...
The Massive Multi-Million-Dollar Art Fraud (Despite Warnings)
His paintings sold for tens of thousands of dollars, but so did fakes created by former apprentices, strangers, even his own relatives. For years,...
Movie Theatre Box Office Is Recovering… And No Theatre Chains Have Folded
But no major exhibitors are expected to fold — at least just yet. Studios bosses were expecting shoes to drop by this point in...
The Face Of Academia (And If I Look At You Wrong?)
"When it turned out that my offense amounted to “exclusionary non-verbal facial cues” (it was never clear if these were the student’s words or...
The Importance Of “Third” Places
Third places have "eight features including neutrality, leveling qualities, accommodation, a low profile, and a sense of home. In short, it’s a place that...
Is Immersive Art Changing The Art Experience?
Their offerings are aimed at a general audience and are a particular favourite of young families and those after an eye-catching selfie backdrop. What...
Backlash Against The Chicago Symphony’s Mäkelä Hire
Troublingly, a backlash regarding this appointment has quickly gained momentum—let’s call it “Klaustrophobia.” Unlike Mr. Dudamel’s early days in L.A., when nary an unkind...
New York Public TV Station WNET Cuts Staff And Arts Program
“NYC-Arts, which has been chronicling arts and culture in the tri-state area since 2008, does not have the funding to continue." Its last broadcast...
You Can’t Escape Philip Glass
Whether you love him, hate him, pay him or his music no mind, or pretend he doesn’t matter — you cannot escape Philip Glass....
When Politicians Endorse Theatre
Figures from the political world getting involved in theatre makes a certain amount of sense, since producers and politicians both have to raise money...
Justin Davidson: Supertall Towers Have Turned Central Park Into A Canyon
The result is a skyline that’s no longer just a backdrop or a distant view or a pleasantly hard-edged contrast with the soft green...
Psst Pisa! Any Tips To Stop The Lean?
Bologna's Garisenda town is in trouble. After sensors attached to the monument, which leans at a 3.6 degree angle, picked up “anomalous movements” last...