With this issue, Volume 25, Number 10, The New Criterion
completes its twentieth-fifth anniversary season. For the
last several years, weve taken this space in our June issue
to thank the people and institutions who have made The New
Criterion possible. We do so this year with a sense of
amazement as well as gratitude. Twenty-five yearsa quarter of a
century!is a respectable age for any publication; for a
serious review of culture and the arts it is downright
venerable; and for a magazine that is not only serious but
1) non-academic and 2) conservative it is well-nigh
unprecedented. The New Criterion, let us confess it, began
as a gamble. Was there an appetite for cultural criticism
that was sophisticated as well as lively, that was not
beholden to any commercial or political interests, a
publication whose editorial cynosures were not ephemeral
academic or art-world trends but candor and allegiance to
artistic and intellectual excellence? The answer turned out
to be Yes. The gamble has paid off handsomelyif not in
financial terms then in terms of influence, the appreciation
of our readers, and the increasingly prominent place that
The New Criterion occupies in the world of intellectual
exchange and debate.
We are under no illusion that we could have managed this on
our own. From the beginning, in 1982, The New Criterion
has depended absolutely on a band of visionary institutions and individuals who shared
our belief that when it comes to the future of American
society the issue of culture, far from being peripheral,
belongs at the very center of our concerns. The vibrancy of
culture is inseparable from the vibrancy of the
polity from which it springs. Not all philanthropists recognize this,
but The New Criterion has been as fortunate in its
supporters as it has been in its writers. We are proud to
acknowledge the indispensable support of the Lynde and Harry
Bradley Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, without
whose stalwart support The New Criterion could not exist.
We would also like to recall the equally decisive support of
the John M. Olin Foundation, which generously supported
our efforts from our inception until it closed its doors two
years ago.
The demise of the Olin Foundation was a serious loss to The
New Criterion, as it was to many other worthy conservative initiatives.
We were fortunate indeed that several individuals and
institutions stepped into the breach to help assure that The New
Criterion continued. Many of you, our readers, have rallied
to the cause by responding to our annual appeal: Thank you
for helping to make our work possible. And the Friends of
The New Criterion, a small but growing group of dedicated
supporters, has over the last few years mobilized to
help assure the future of the magazine that the London
Telegraph called Americas leading reviews of the arts
and intellectual life. All of us at The New Criterion are
grateful to the Friends of The New Criterion for their
generous support.
We would like to close by singling out two individuals. The
first is Brandon Fradd, whose important gift this year has
helped seed our campaign for the future of The New
Criterion. We are immensely grateful to Brandon for his
pioneering help. Finally, we are once again delighted to acknowledge
our profound debt to our friend Donald Kahn. Donald has been a
supporter of our work for more than a decade. And when the
Olin Foundation announced its termination, he instantly
stepped in to make sure that The New Criterion would
continue. The list of cultural ventures that Donald has
helped is long and distinguished. We are as proud as we are
grateful to be among that number.
Thank you, friends, for making another year of The New
Criterion possible.
