This month, Ayn Rand Center Europe (ARCE)—headed by Isidora Kolar—celebrates six years of advancing Objectivism in Europe. Congratulations to ARCE and Isidora for their accomplishments!
The first half of 2022 was one of ARCE’s busiest and most productive periods yet. Here are some highlights from the past six months:
ARCE’s flagship program, the John Galt School (JGS), consists of eight day-long seminars on Objectivism held in countries around the world. Since ARCE launched the program in 2016, it has received more than 2,100 applications, enrolled more than 900 students in twenty-two countries, and graduated more than 600. Thus far in 2022, ARCE has operated John Galt Schools in seven European countries. In Ukraine, the JGS seminars began in-person just as the war started and then continued online while the students were confined to bomb shelters. These students report that the seminars helped keep their spirits up and created a unique community that will outlast the war.
In April, ARCE launched its first New Intellectuals Conference (NICON), an annual gathering of JGS alumni, their partners, donors, and lecturers. The conference took place April 18-22 in Prague, Czech Republic and provided a unique opportunity for the top sixty JGS alumni from twenty countries to advance their knowledge of Objectivism even further, as well as to connect with fellow alumni.
In addition to their own conference, the ARCE team attended three major conferences: LibertyCon, hosted in April by European Students For Liberty in Prague; the Atlas Network’s Europe Liberty Forum, held in May in Warsaw; and TOS-Con, hosted in June by the Objective Standard Institute in Colorado.
Within the past month, ARCE has brought its new community platform, Objectiversity, to its final phase of development and expects to launch a beta version within a few months. In preparation for this, they’ve added a new member to their marketing team.
Meanwhile, each member of the ARCE team continues to pursue individual professional and personal development tailored to their specific field of work and interest. In addition to helping them thrive personally, this development will enable them to better execute and promote ARCE’s programs and activities.
Please check out the ARCE website for many more updates from this productive team.
