ArtsJournal
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Why Have Sea Shanties Become A TikTok Sensation?
Why sea shanties, and why now? I do not have any concrete ideas about this; all I can tell you is that it’s happening....
Ten Takeaways From Variety’s Entertainment Summit
"A common misconception is that niche shows geared toward specific audiences will not fare as well as more universal programs, but Lucinda Martinez, executive...
Learning How Not To Read Like A Critic
"One of the first lessons you learn in grad school is to hide your personal taste or risk being shamed for liking the wrong...
Will Self: How Should We Be Reading?
"There’s always this quality of endeavor about reading—and at the same time, in cognitive terms it’s hard work. When someone reading complex passages of...
Guggenheim Museum Names Its First Black Deputy Director
Naomi Beckwith, 44, who since 2018 has served as senior curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, will oversee collections, exhibitions, publications, curatorial...
Do We Want Uplifting Entertainment In These Difficult Times? Not Me!
"The temptation to simplify morality when social injustice is rife is understandable, but reading Dostoevsky makes me impatient with the schematic bent of our...
This Year’s Kennedy Center Honorees
The Kennedy Center Honors announced today that the lifetime artistic achievement recipients for its 43rd ceremony will be choreographer and actress Debbie Allen; folk...
Why You Can’t Stop Watching “Bad” TV
“Consolatory entertainment” is a better term for such programming. There is consolation in the simple pleasures of ordinary conversation, shared enjoyment and of laughing...
The Wrenching Realities Of Gentrification
Gentrification is one of the most pressing – and polarising – issues confronting cities today. In popular discussions, defenders of gentrification tend to paint...
Smithsonian Abandons $2 Billion Redo Of National Mall Castle
The Bjarke Ingels Group proposal was unveiled with great fanfare in late 2014 as a reimagining of the campus on the southern edge of...
COVID Is Killing American Indian Tribal Leaders And Their Culture
“It’s like we’re having a cultural book-burning,” said Jason Salsman, a spokesman for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in eastern Oklahoma, whose grandparents contracted the...
Trump, Insurrection And Classical Architecture
Before the attempted coup, architecture critics were debating the lasting impact of the president’s executive order decreeing that federal buildings should be in classical...
Riccardo Muti Speaks Out About Met Opera’s Treatment Of Its Orchestra Musicians
“My appeal is to give back to the musicians of the Met the dignity which we all deserve and the hope that they...
Global Culture? It Won’t Really Ever Happen
"Populations across the globe today may devour Starbucks, KFC, and Coca-Cola. They may enjoy Italian opera, French couture, and Persian carpets. But no matter...
Needed: A Historic Plan For Rebuilding The Arts In America
The Biden campaign promised that America could “build back better,” and throughout 2020 the president-elect extolled F.D.R.’s New Deal as a blueprint for American...
What We Need Is Artificial Intelligence That Explains Itself
A computer that masters protein folding and also tells researchers more about the rules of biology is much more useful than a computer that...
The Important Privilege Of Being An Absolute Beginner
"For most of us, the beginner stage is something to be got through as quickly as possible, like a socially awkward skin condition. But...
France Guarantees Unemployment Funds For Artists
In the U.S., some artists have turned to philanthropic or community support to get by. But in France, dancers, musicians, even the set-builders, costumers...
How One Arts Funder Is Trying To Diversify Its Selection Process
“The ‘X-factor’ that drew me to an organization was their organic feel. Anyone with money or political ambition can rent a space, start a...
Why We’re Still Fascinated By Gatsby
"Were you to lay this thing out by the sentence, it’d be as close as an array of words could get to strands of...
The Best-Selling Books Of 2020 – Obama Tops The List
"A Promised Land, the first volume of Barack Obama’s presidential memoirs, was the top print title in 2020, moving nearly 2.6 million copies at...
Is Simon Rattle’s Departure From London A Sign Of Things To Come Post-Brexit?
Although glamorous plans were unveiled in 2019 , the new hall is looking more and more like a fantasy. And now it is losing...
Is This Finally The End Of Broadcast TV?
How much of the telly you watch this year will be on a live, linear channel, at the scheduled hour, with millions of others...
Why Government Needs To Invest In The Arts — Particularly Now
Political developments have revealed a nation split more fiercely than most people ever imagined. Many of the civic institutions that have sustained American life...
The Philosophy Of Wine? But Of Course…
"Not content to simply establish the origins of our belief systems, philosophers focus on the evidence that supports our belief systems and whether we...