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Hello PT fans,
This is Director of Research and Advancement, Laura Maguire, stepping out from behind my curtain of anonymity to talk to you directly.
After 14 years with Philosophy Talk, alas my time with the program has come to an end and this will be the last newsletter I send you.
In previous newsletters, I've shared some of difficulties we've had recently with raising enough money to keep the show going. Now it's time for some real talk.
Two years ago, we received our first NEH grant to make Wise Women, a series that brings attention to the overlooked and underrated contributions of women in philosophy. We submitted another grant proposal to produce two additional seasons of the series earlier this year and, given the encouraging responses from our NEH program officer, we were confident we would be awarded that grant of $300,000 to be spread out over the next two years.
But that's not how things turned out.
In April this year, our first grant was abruptly terminated, leaving us with a $38,000 shortfall. The only explanation we were given was that our project no longer fit with the "current administration's priorities."
Then the second grant proposal we submitted was rejected, despite glowing reviews from the five NEH panelists who evaluated it. In fact, their reviews were so good, we put together some of our favorite quotes, which you can read here.
Under a different administration, it's clear we would have been awarded this second grant.
We hoped Stanford might be able to save us, but with cutbacks to all kinds of grants, not just the NEH, and the new tax on university endowments, Stanford was already tightening the belt, announcing a freeze on all new hiring in February.
Then the layoffs were announced. I was told that I was among 363 Stanford staff members being laid off due to budget cuts.
Our home station, KALW 91.7 FM, is also dealing with its own budget shortfalls. With the federal defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KALW is now losing a whopping $400,000 a year.
So where do we turn to keep the show alive?
Defunded But Not Defeated
As the saying goes, the show must go on. But with my departure, Philosophy Talk will be on life-support moving forward. Due to budget cuts four years ago, we lost our Director of Marketing, and now there will be no Director of Research and Advancement (i.e. no one pursuing grants). Any more cuts and that will be it for us. The end.
But we're not quite there yet and this is where you come in.
What can YOU do to keep the program alive?
With our new website, we have a new subscription model, with a FREE Basic Subscription that gives you early access to all new episodes as well as access to the most recent episodes featured on the homepage. If you haven't already subscribed, please do so!
- Get a premium subscription
A Premium Subscription gives you everything in the Basic Subscription, plus full access to the entire archive of 600+ episodes. And it's only $89.99 per year or $9.99 per month—your choice. Plus, you get 3 FREE months when you subscribe to premium. If you can afford paying a little for premium, please do so!
If you can afford to pay more than the premium subscription, please support us with a gift. Anyone who gives us $500 or more will be thanked by name in the program credits.
If all you can do is listen to the program, even that will help.
But if you can afford to give, either via a premium subscription or a gift, that will help a lot.
Going forward, our senior producer, Devon Strolovitch, will be taking over from me writing the newsletter each month. He is the last paid member of the team (did you know that Ray and Josh work for free?). If there's no money to pay him, there will be no one to produce new episodes.
So if you value Philosophy Talk, the program that questions everything—except your intelligence—act now, before it's too late.
Sincerely,
Laura Maguire
Director of Research and Advancement
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