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A Letter from the Chairman of
The Rosenkranz Foundation |
Dear friends of ideas,
Our first two series of debates in 2006 and 2007 attracted sell-out audiences, and we are delighted to be building on that success. Because we have had such an overwhelming demand for tickets, we are pleased to announce that the Fall 2008-Spring 2009 series will take place at a larger venue—Caspary Auditorium at The Rockefeller University, located at 66th Street & York Avenue on New York's Upper East Side.
We brought the Intelligence Squared (IQ2) debate series to a live audience in New York City, as well as to a national audience through NPR®, with the goal of raising the level of public discourse on the key issues of our day. We seek less partisan rancor, more reasoned discussion; fewer poisonous emotions, more facts. We’d like those on one side of a contentious issue to recognize that there is an intellectually respectable opposing view.
We also strive for wit, humor and drama. We try to provoke. And we have succeeded: Besides our sell-out live audience, we attract a large national radio audience on more than 150 NPR® stations. We are among the handful of leading NPR® public service programs in terms of podcasts: more than 65,000 people download the program each month.
The format is Oxford-style debate. A motion is proposed: two to three speakers argue for the motion, two to three argue against, while a moderator controls the proceedings.
Best of all, the audience has a critical role. Your questions are part of the program. And you vote on the motion both before and after hearing the debate, ultimately deciding which side has carried the day. With a wine reception before the program and many fine restaurants nearby, these evenings have both intellectual and social dimensions. Our live audience has been full of New York’s most dynamic journalists, media executives, academics, policy experts, public officials, and leaders in business and finance.
We hope you will be part of this group and join us at the upcoming debates. For a better sense of the experience, please visit our website, iq2us.org. There you can download our previous debates as transcripts, unedited audio, or as broadcast on NPR®.
I look forward to seeing you at Caspary Auditorium this fall. Thank you for your support.
Very truly yours,
Robert Rosenkranz
Chairman
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