Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Circus That Bought An Old West Town In The Desert
Spiegelworld, an entertainment and circus company based in Las Vegas, bought the entire town in 2022 for $2.5m. This isolated plot of land, roughly an hour’s...
Study: UK Artists Earn Average Of £12,500 Per Year
Visual artists in the UK take home a median annual salary of only £12,500 a year, a 40% decrease since 2010, a new survey commissioned by...
Outside Some High-Profile Sales (Banana Anyone?) Art Auction Market Is Down 40 Percent This...
The auction market "continues to sag behind its 2022 sales records, when a pent-up supply of masterpieces during the pandemic pushed the fall sales...
New Book Publisher Says It Will Publish 8000 Books Next Year Using AI
Spines, founded in 2021 but which published its first titles this year, is a startup technology business which—for a fee—is offering the use of...
Valencia’s Artists And Cultural Institutions Dig Out After Floods
In Spain, regional governments are responsible for disaster management, including heritage protection. The co-operation between the central government and Valencia’s to respond to the...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning. When books go out of copyright (finally), anyone can use them to republish, remix, re-interpret. "To turn a profit, you just need...
This Week’s AJ Highlights
Good morning. Lots of consequential stories this week. One I find particularly intriguing is this story from Harvard Business Review. It takes on the...
Remembering Painter Frank Auerbach Who Has Died At 93
In almost any Auerbach oil painting, early or late, rawness is thick on the ground. So dense, so clotted, and so busily heaped is...
Baltimore Symphony Oboist Has Become A Clearing House For Classical Music’s #MeToo Reckoning
“We need to show our industry and music-loving public that there are consequences for inappropriate behaviour,” Katherine Needleman says. - Baltimore Banner
In Our Culture Success Is Often Measured By Its Ability Scale. What If This...
There is a flaw at the heart of the concept of scaling, though it can be hard to articulate in the face of “bigger...
Broadway Is Having A Country Music Moment
For the most part, show tunes on Broadway still sound more influenced by Andrew Lloyd Webber than by, say, Morgan Wallen. But country music...
A New Prize For Music Criticism Named After William Littler
The longtime Toronto Star classical music critic reflects: Littler remembers the words of a former editor who told him, your job is to take...
Prominent Author Accused Of Stealing Algerian Woman’s Story
This year’s winner of France’s biggest book prize is being sued in Algeria over claims he stole the story from a patient of his...
European Movies Are Getting Critical Raves. Box Office Success Is Another Story
On Thursday, the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO), a research body, published its annual report on the theatrical performance of European movies worldwide. It’s not...
Talk Of Decolonizing Is Everywhere. But What It Means Is Uncertain
In contrast to the seeming clarity of colonialism (however much it elides that process’s own complications), current discussions of decolonisation can seem amorphous and...
The UK Is Getting Serious About Cracking Down On Social Networks
Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, is trying to convince social media platforms to do more to prevent online harms,...
Same Old Same Old: Our Culture Industry Relentlessly Mines Nostalgia
They do not feel like fun experiments or celebrations of beloved albums. They feel like the onward acceleration of a culture industry that is...
Lawrence Tibett Forecast Today’s Crisis In American Opera Back In 1950
He declared opera in America “in grave danger,” entrapped by a “star system” enforced by a social elite. He advocated American opera and opera...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: When voters elected far right governments in Hungary and Poland, the new leaders started changing the rules for how government would work....
When A Writer Should Just Say “Etcetera” (Literarily Speaking, Of Course)
When do we feel compelled to say “etcetera” or “ityadi” or even “blah blah,” not just literally or in a manner of speaking but...
Boston’s Institute Of Contemporary Art Gets A New Director
Nora Abrams, who has been the director of Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art since 2019, will succeed Jill Medvedow, who will leave her position...
Portland Oregon Changed How It Funds The Arts. Small Arts Organizations Aren’t Happy
The city argues that its new method of funding organizations creates a more equitable process to sustain the city’s myriad creative centers. But many...
A Weapon To Crush Uppity Arts Non-Profits?
"This is a troubling turn of events, particularly for the arts, where nonprofit organizations are prominent players in the form of museums, alternative art...
US House Passes Bill That Would Let Administration Strip Any Nonprofit As “Terrorist-Supporting”
This legislation would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to designate section 501(c) nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” at the Secretary’s discretion, without requiring...
How Popular Culture Might Change During A Second Trump Term
In many ways the cultural legacy of the first Trump administration was more visible in backlash and protest. But it’s possible the second time...