Since 2016, when ARCE was founded, the organization has conducted thirty-seven rounds of John Galt Schools in twenty-two countries. Each John Galt School (JGS) consists of eight day-long seminars on Objectivism, which include reading and discussing Ayn Rand’s works, taking Leonard Peikoff’s courses, listening to lectures, and taking quizzes and tests on the materials. ARCE has received more than 2,100 applications for the program, enrolled more than 900 students, and graduated more than 600.
In 2021, ARCE organized and conducted twelve rounds of John Galt Schools, which took place in Serbia, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Switzerland, Georgia, UK, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Peru, and Armenia. They received a total of 715 applications and selected the top 278 students to participate in the courses. (The application involves writing an essay on some aspect of Objectivism and being interviewed by the ARCE team.)
Many graduates of ARCE’s JGS program have gone on to organize John Galt Schools in their home countries, and several have launched their own organizations to advance Objectivism (e.g., ARC Ukraine and the Berlin Center for Individualist Thought).
Although ARCE’s 2021 New Intellectual’s Conference (NICON) was canceled due to lockdowns, NICON 2022 took place in Prague, Czech Republic in April 2022. Modeled on the Prometheus Academy conference they held in Batumi, Georgia in March 2020, NICON gathered top Objectivist speakers from around the world, John Galt School alumni, and active-minded young people from all over Europe for intensive study of Objectivism, professional networking, and brainstorming about new and improved ways to advance Ayn Rand’s ideas. Speakers included Isidora Kolar, Martin Hooss, Eszter Nova, Leopold Ajami, Angel Walker-Werth, Thomas Walker-Werth, Matt Kibbe, Terry Kibbe, and Craig Biddle. Topics included “Building a Career Consistent With Your Values,” “The Value of Love,” “The Psychological Shift From ‘Who Is Going to Let Me?’ to ‘Who Is Going to Stop Me?’,” “Objectivism and Independence,” and “Promoting Objectivism as a Philosophy for Self-Development.”
In May 2021, ARCE’s marketing team won first prize for their liberty video concept at Atlas Network’s “Lights, Camera, Liberty Workshop” in Atlanta, GA. The prize included $5,000 and a video production mentorship program. With this help, the ARCE team has created in-house video production capabilities and will be creating promotional and educational videos moving forward.
During the fall of 2021, OSI fellows Angelica and Thomas Walker-Werth taught JGS seminars hosted by ARC Ukraine, SFL UK, and ARC Israel. Likewise, Leopold Ajami (president of the Novel Philosophy Academy in Dubai) taught a JGS seminar to students in Peru, which was hosted by Ricardo’s Time.
In the fall of 2022, ARCE will launch a beta version of its new e-learning platform, “Objectiversity,” incorporating study guides, articles, videos, quizzes, and tests on Objectivism.
Over the past five years, ARCE, in cooperation with the Serbian publisher, Albion Books, has ensured that Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead have been available in print at bookstores and libraries throughout Serbo-Croatian speaking countries. ARCE and Albion now have plans to publish Serbo-Croatian editions of Rand’s nonfiction and Leonard Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand in 2022.
