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Objectivist Summer Conference(OCON) 2018Newport Beach, CaliforniaMOVINGTHEAYN RAND ARCHIVESTHE FOUNTAINHEADEXHIBIT AT THE NEWARI OFFICESIn 2018, the Ayn Rand Archives completed one of itsbiggest projects to date. In early March, we successfullypacked and moved all of our holdings, which includedmore than 4,800 linear feet of shelved material (paperdocuments, audio/visual media, and tabletop items), largefurniture pieces (such as Ayn Rand’s desk), artwork and ourreference library.A highlight of OCON 2018, attended by more than 600 people, was a 90-minute panel discussion titled “Philosophy and the Human Soul,” moderatedby The Rubin Report’s Dave Rubin, with panelists Yaron Brook, Jordan Peterson and Gregory Salmieri. A recording of the panel is available on both TheRubin Report and Ayn Rand Institute YouTube channels. The recordings have a combined viewership of over 279,000 views as of this writing.This year, ARI marked the highest-everObjectivist conference (OCON) attendance,with 649 in-person attendees—a significantincrease over last year’s 511. One hundred fortysix were students—which is also a new recordand a 36% increase over the previous OCON.The conference celebrated the 75th anniversaryof The Fountainhead, and several speakers’talks examined Ayn Rand’s timeless novel,its influence and its enduring relevance—including Shoshana Milgram’s “Frank LloydWright and The Fountainhead: The Full Story”;Gregory Salmieri’s “The Fountainhead on WhatIs Important (and What Is Not)”; RobertMayhew’s “‘Kill by Laughter’: Humor in TheFountainhead and Its 21st-Century Relevance”;6and Andrew Bernstein’s “Howard Roark andthe Great Heroes of Literature.” In addition,the 1949 film The Fountainhead, screenwrittenby Ayn Rand and starring Gary Cooper asHoward Roark, was screened.In 2019, OCON will be held in Cleveland,Ohio, at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown.The conference will celebrate the 50thanniversary of The Romantic Manifesto, andmany of the talks and sessions will focus onart—what it is, why it gives rise to a distinctbranch of philosophy, and its unique andpowerful role in man’s life.Registration is now open, and we hopeto see you there. For more details, visitOCON.aynrand.org.AYN RAND INSTITUTEBack to Table of ContentsIn addition to being a huge logistical challenge, this movewas significant because the contents housed in the alarmedstorage now benefit from temperature and relative humidity(RH) control 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As befitsmixed materials holdings, the temperature of the roomis held at 65 degrees Fahrenheit, while the RH remains 37%. Temperature and RH control are critical to thepreservation of archival collections because unacceptablelevels significantly hasten the decay of materials. Happily,the climate stability of our new alarmed storage space willensure the longest possible lifespan for our holdings.During the four months immediately following the move,we worked to expand the amount of materials that couldfit in the alarmed storage. Thanks to volunteers Bill Stoopsand Brian Cross, all of the shelving units that contained fourshelves were adjusted to contain five shelves, adding 20%more storage throughout much of the space.COMING UP NEXT: THE ORAL HISTORYINTERVIEW PROGRAMThanks to donations in 2018 in support of the OralHistory program, the Ayn Rand Archives looks forwardto completing several crucial interviews in 2019 withindividuals who knew Ayn Rand or who were involved withthe formation of the Objectivist movement. Their memorieswill be an invaluable addition to our overall understandingof Ayn Rand’s life and legacy.To support the Oral History program with an earmarkeddonation, simply go to ari.aynrand.org/donate/creditcardand mention the program in the “Additional Comments”section of the form.Back to Table of ContentsJenniffer Woodson, archivist and manager of theAyn Rand Archives, and Keith Lockitch, ARI’s vicepresident of content, were responsible for creating a beautifulexhibit—Ayn Rand and The Fountainhead: Vision Struggle Triumph—in ARI’s new offices in Santa Ana, California, incommemoration of the novel’s 75th anniversary.Our offices are located just minutes from the venue at whichOCON 2018 was held, and many conference attendeesjoined us for an Open House, where ARI intellectuals andstaff gave guided tours and explained the items on display.Photographs, drawings and other ephemera werecombined with various quotes from Ayn Rand’s lifeand novels to tell the story of how she conceived of andcompleted The Fountainhead, and the acclaim that followed.Tours of the office exhibit and visits to the Ayn RandArchives are available to donors by appointment. Call ourDonor Services Department at 800-365-6552, ext. 204, orwrite to donorservices@aynrand.org.ANNUAL REPORT 20187

THE IMPACT OF AYNRANDCON 2018WHAT ATTENDEES ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS YEAR’S AYN RAND STUDENT CONFERENCEphilosophy or aware of the wide range of ARI programsavailable to them for exploring Rand’s ideas further.For many, this is their first exposure to the Objectivistmovement, and our goal is for that first in-personexperience to be stimulating, benevolent and inspiring.The FountainheadOriginal painting by Nick Gaetano, All Rights ReservedArt available for purchase at cordair.comOutside of the conference lectures and Q&A sessions,students interacted with speakers and ARI staff whoanswered questions and guided their further explorationof the ideas discussed in the conference sessions. Ina 90-minute “speed networking” session, mentorsfrom a broad range of fields—including academia,business, education, film, law, marketing, nonprofits,philosophy, policy, psychology and technology—offeredfocused conversations about professional and personaldevelopment.INDIVIDUALISMIN AN AGE OF TRIBALISM2018At the beginning of November, 119 studentsfrom 17 countries gathered in Atlanta,Georgia, to attend Ayn Rand Student Conference(AynRandCon) 2018. The theme of the conferencethis year was “Individualism in an Age of Tribalism.”Fittingly, the conference also celebrated the75th anniversary of The Fountainhead and itstimeless and crucial theme of “individualismversus collectivism, not in politics but withina man’s soul.”Based on the feedback from attendees, the conferencewas a home run—their only consistent complaint wasthat they wished it had been longer. The excitement waspalpable, and the student attendees were lively, engagedand enthusiastic in their exploration of ideas.I’m happy to say that there were some really smartstudents and young professionals asking a widerange of questions. I got asked everything fromwhat Ayn Rand was like as a person to questions onthe role of statistics in induction, and whether (forinduction) action- concepts counted as “ first-level.”8—Nicolas Navarro, Virginia TechAs someone who knew very little about it beforecoming to the conference, I had a great experiencelearning more about Objectivism. I enjoyed speakingto all of the speakers and AynRandCon was a fantasticopportunity to meet fellow open-minded students.The speakers and mentors made themselves incrediblyavailable for conversations and questions—they careabout the next generation of Objectivists!It’s always great to get to talk with other studentsinterested in Rand and liberty generally. AynRandConconsistently provides a forum to discuss important ideasand how they can be applied to current events!—Paul Taske, University of CincinnatiAynRandCon represents the perfect opportunityto reconnect and reaffirm those deep values and idealsthat I strive to live by daily. Meeting so many othersinterested in ideas is a powerful antidote to thewearing down that can come in life.—Korey Gall, OAC StudentSo many great conversations and lectures madethis conference a great learning experience, even forsomeone who is fairly new to Rand’s philosophy.—Olivia Bryant, Harvard College—Sagar Gaire, St. John’s CollegeIt was incredible to meet other students who takethese ideas seriously. I experienced more critical discussionof real issues this weekend than I have the rest of the year.The energy and excitement every person felt about hisor her own life was inspiring and energizing. . . . .These conferences are a Mecca for great minds.AynRandCon 2018 served as unmistakable proofthat there is a growing community of young thinkersdedicated to learning more about Objectivism . . .and how it applies to their own lives. . . .The weekend was a striking reminder to methat the world I want can be achieved.—Sarah Montalbano, Montana State University—Tom Nowak, University of Waterloo—Harry BinswangerFor two full days, leading experts on Objectivismpresented in-depth explorations of tribalism in its manymanifestations and elucidated its opposite—Ayn Rand’sphilosophy of individualism—as the antidote to our era’sincreasing tribalism.ARI’s target audience for AynRandCon is students who arefans of Rand’s novels, but not necessarily familiar with herIt was a surprise to see so many people with differentlevels of understanding of Ayn Rand and Objectivism.Some had never read anything about Ayn Rand, somehad read everything and there were even people whoopenly disagreed on key issues, which did not prevent arespectful, engaged and meaningful discussion of ideas.Harry Binswanger, at right, and Gregory Salmieri, answering questionsAYN RAND INSTITUTEBack to Table of ContentsAynRandCon 2018 was organized by ARI with the assistance of STRIVE (STudents for Reason, Individualism,Value-pursuit, and Enterprise) and with additional support from Mark Coldren; Loren and Kathy Corle of RELCO,LLC; Brian English; Mary Heinking and Bruce Van Horn; Bennett Karp; Ellen and Harris Kenner; and Chris J. Rufer.Back to Table of ContentsANNUAL REPORT 20189

REACHING and“CULTIVATINGtheCRITICAL MINORITY”of Objectivism far and wide, into unknown butpromising soils, and nurture the few saplings wefind emerging and struggling to grow.ARI’S CONTENT and INTELLECTUALDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIESThe goal of ARI is nothing short of creatinga culture whose guiding principles arereason, rational self-interest, individualismand laissez-faire capitalism—a culture inwhich individuals are free to pursue their ownhappiness. Whether we succeed or fail in thatgoal will depend on the wisdom of our strategyfor spreading Objectivist ideas.In the summer of 2018, ARI made the strategicdecision to dramatically increase its productionand distribution of free, high-quality intellectualcontent—original content and repackaged legacycontent, such as lectures by Ayn Rand and coursesby Leonard Peikoff, Harry Binswanger and otherprominent Objectivist intellectuals.Our aim has been to saturate the airwaves withObjectivist ideas, and to manage the futureallocation of resources by closely monitoringconsumption data—feeding the approaches thatwork and cutting those that do not. (This hasrequired us to develop a sophisticated system ofmeasurement and tracking for application to acomplex web of meaningful data—and a datadriven approach to making decisions about what10This is where our content strategy meets ourintellectual development strategy.content to produce and how to distribute it forgreatest effect.)Yet the aim of this new quantitative standard isnot to attempt to win a majority to our side; as AynRand explains in her article “What Can One Do?”:In an intellectual battle, you do not need to convert everyone. History is made by minorities—or, more precisely, history is made by intellectual movements, which are created by minorities.Who belongs to these minorities? Anyone whois able and willing actively to concern himselfwith intellectual issues. Here, it is not quantity,but quality, that counts (the quality—and consistency—of the ideas one is advocating).We have such quality ideas, thanks to Ayn Rand.Our task is to cultivate the critical minority.That minority—those curious, honest, rationalindividuals who are hungry for better ideas—isout there, and it’s distributed across the world.(See p. 21 for ARI’s global strategy.) Because we donot know in advance where we will find our mostenthusiastic and active minds, we cast the seedsAYN RAND INSTITUTEWe do not know in advance where we will find our most enthusiasticand active minds. We cast the seeds of Objectivism far and wide,into unknown but promising soils, and nurture the fewsaplings we find emerging and struggling to grow.Back to Table of ContentsAs we continue to spread our ideas as widely asresources allow, our intellectual development teamtakes a “flame-spotting” approach to recruitmentfor programs such as the Objectivist AcademicCenter and the Junior Fellows Program—keepingan eye out for bright flares of interest and intellectamong ARI’s program participants and activecontent consumers.Through our content and intellectual developmentprograms, we are committed to making it possiblefor every individual who discovers and yearns toachieve a deeper understanding of Objectivism totake part in a meaningful program of education—whether self-directed, through newly releasedmaterial posted to ARI Campus and YouTube,or through formal training at the ObjectivistAcademic Center—as a student or, now, as anauditor (see page 17).In the following pages, you will learn more aboutthe details of ARI’s 2018 and forward-lookingstrategic efforts to spread Objectivism, and theimpact the strategy has had so far.NEW STAFF ROLES POWERING ARI’S CONTENTAND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIESIn 2018, ARI created new roles and restructured its organizationalchart to better align the responsibilities of staff with the new contentand intellectual development strategies. Here are two such examples:CARLA SILK, Director of ContentProduction, has been a major driverbehind ARI’s increased outputof intellectual content. Her roleis that of a supercharged projectmanager—running the Contentdepartment like a machine. Shehas shielded content creators fromthe managerial and administrativeresponsibilities that would otherwise absorb muchof their attention, and has brought innovation to oureditorial and production processes across the board.Back to Table of ContentsZANE MITCHELL, Director ofDigital Marketing, has grown ARI’sability to measure and track keyperformance indicators and othervaluable metrics for understandingthe ways users across all platformsand channels are engaging withour intellectual content. The moresophisticated we can become in our ability to measureand track data, the better we will be at allocating ourresources for producing and distributing content thatdemonstrably impacts our goals.ANNUAL REPORT 201811

INTRODUCING NEW IDEALRecommended New Ideal ArticlesFrom the “About” Page at newideal.aynrand.orgThe Central Hub for New Intellectual Content from ARIWELCOME TO NEW IDEALFinding Morality and Happiness Without Godby Onkar GhateOminous Threats to the Marketplace of Ideasby Ben BayerIn April, ARI launched its new online publication New Ideal. Visit newideal.aynrand.org.ARI’s decision to multiply the rate ofproduction and broaden distributionof Objectivist content has meant adoptingmany new social media channels and otherpromotional platforms in recent years—fromYouTube and Facebook to Twitter, iTunes,Instagram and more. Each move onto a newplatform has exposed us to new audiencesbut has also made it a challenge for our coreaudience to know where they can find ourlatest intellectual content.Our new online publication New Ideal solves thisproblem; it serves as a central hub for users tofind a steady flow of original, timely, thoughtprovoking and in-depth commentary ontoday’s pressing cultural issues from anObjectivist perspective.Yet New Ideal seeks to reach not only anObjectivist audience, but also, especially,evermore non-Objectivists, by demonstratingthe power of Ayn Rand’s ideas and theirnecessity in today’s world.Our output to date has been considerable. Since12launching in April, a total of 88 pieces havebeen released. In 2019, we will release at leasttwo substantive pieces per week in a variety offormats—written articles, video and audio.Content is organized on the website by topicand release date, with an “In Depth” sectionpresenting longer and more advanced material—and an “In the Spotlight” section featuringrecommended articles. When designing thewebsite (newideal.aynrand.org), we took amobile-first approach to ensure navigation iseasy and reading is enjoyable on phones, tabletsand computers.Whether you’re primarily interested in applyingObjectivist principles to questions of foreignpolicy, culture and society, government and freespeech—or to the pursuit of happiness in yourown life—New Ideal is the place to go.We hope you’ll take advantage of this one-stopplatform to keep up with us year-round. Toreceive notifications about New Ideal content, goto newideal.aynrand.org and click “Sign upfor email updates” at the top of the page.AYN RAND INSTITUTEBack to Table of ContentsThe Sordid US-Saudi Alliance: Betraying Individualismby Elan JournoWhy Read Thinkers You Disagree Withby Aaron SmithSlicing Into the Gay Wedding Cake Casepanel with Onkar Ghate, Elan JournoandSteve SimpsonAyn Rand’s goal as a novelist and philosopher wasto “define and present the image of an ideal man—specifically, the image of what man can be and oughtto be.” To do it, she needed to discover a new philosophyand define a new moral code. “My philosophy, inessence,” Rand once said, “is the concept of man asa heroic being, with his own happiness as the moralpurpose of his life, with productive achievement as hisnoblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”At New Ideal, we explore pressing cultural issues fromthe perspective of Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism.Here you will not find the categories that definetoday’s intellectual world. We are neither of the rightnor the left, but we reject “the center.” We are atheists,but we are for reason, not merely against religion. Wechampion science, but also free will. We are staunchindividualists, but also moralists—embracing anew kind of morality, in which selfishness is a virtueand none of us is bound to be our brother’s keeper.We don’t just oppose “big government,” we eagerlysupport the right kind of government—one limited toprotecting individual rights. We are for real freedom—freedom that includes a woman’s right to abortion, anindividual’s right to speak his mind on any subject,and a businessman’s right to create, unencumberedby the crushing weight of our expanding regulatorystate. We are neither hawks nor doves. Instead, wesupport a rational foreign policy, directed exclusivelyby America’s interests in protecting its citizens’lives and freedom. We are unabashed laissez-fairecapitalists. We champion both the true entrepreneurswho create new technology and vast wealth and thetrue artists who create novel ways of illuminating thehuman experience.Reason. Individualism. Capitalism. Properlyunderstood, all are new moral ideals. All areessential to human life, to the individual’s pursuit ofhappiness, to living the kinds of lives each of us shouldlive—and can if we try.—The EditorsFind these and other articles by searching at newideal.aynrand.org.Back to Table of ContentsANNUAL REPORT 201813

ARI CAMPUSARI Campus has been a key pillar of ARI’s contentstrategy since its launch in 2012.andEXPANDING THE RE ACH OF AYN R AND’ S IDE A SIn 2018, we made the strategic decision to increaseavailability and consumption of Objectivist content acrossall of ARI’s distribution channels, even if that meant riskingcannibalization of one key channel by another offering thesame content, as in the case of Campus and YouTube—orif it meant cutting off a source of income by distributingformerly paid content for free.Given the results, we believe we made the right decision.CONTENT AVAILABILITYIn 2018, we also decided to release the majority of ARI’s“legacy content” in the form of ARI Campus courses (whichinclude audio file downloads) and YouTube videos. Legacycontent consists of lectures by Ayn Rand, as well as lecturesand courses by Leonard Peikoff, Harry Binswanger and otherprominent Objectivist intellectuals. Beyond Ayn Rand’swritings, these materials represent the most valuable assetsARI has in training students of Objectivism and exposingthose interested in ideas to the Objectivist philosophy.They have always been available for purchase, and in recentyears they have been made affordable to almost anyone.However, given our decision to maximize availability andconsumption of Objectivist content, we decided to removeall barriers and distribute the materials broadly.The ARI Campus home page at Campus.AynRand.org 178 42 23,249 18COURSESAVAILABLE NOW 441UNIQUE PAGE VIEWS OFTHE AYN RAND LEXICON INFISCAL 2018UNIQUE PAGE VIEWS OFTHE AYN RAND ANDLEONARD PEIKOFF ESSAYSIN THE “WORKS & TALKS”SECTION IN FISCAL 2018COURSES RELEASED THIS YEAR(PREVIOUS AVERAGE: 4 PER YEAR)T

7THE AYN RAND INSTITUTE COMMEMORATES5 YEARS OF THE FOUNTAINHEAD 4 5AYN RAND INSTITUTE I n 2018, ARI celebrated the 75th anniversary of the publication of Ayn Rand’s timeless novel, The Fountainhead. Through its dramatic plot and unforgettable characters, The Fountainhead