President

Daniel Asia (www.danielasia.net) has been an eclectic and unique composer from the start. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, a UK Fulbright award, Guggenheim Fellowship, MacDowell and Tanglewood fellowships, ASCAP and BMI prizes, Copland Fund grants, and numerous others. He was recently honored with a Music Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

As a writer and critic, his articles have appeared in Academic Questions, The New Criterion, the Huffington Post, Athenaeum Review, and New Music Connoisseur.  He is the author of Observations on Music, Culture and Politics, recently published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and editor of The Future of (High Culture) in America (also CSP).

The recorded works of Daniel Asia, including his five symphonies, may be heard on the labels of Summit, New World, Attacca, Albany, Babel, Innova, and Mushkatweek

Vice President; Director of Operations

Dr. Robert Edward Gordon is author of Buddhism and Architecture in America: Building for Enlightenment (2022). His writing can be found in The Wall Street Journal, the Athenaeum Review, Philosophies, Space and Culture, and Social Philosophy & Policy, and the Japanese American National Museum’s Traveling Exhibit. He holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art, an MA in Art History & Theory, and a B.A. in Philosophy. Dr. Gordon brings his expertise in matters of culture to a broad range of research interests: Asian art and philosophy, art and economics, freedom and aesthetics, art and poverty, and humanistic geography.

Artistic Fellow
Director of Technology

Dr. Joshua Nichols is a seasoned and in-demand composer for chamber ensembles and large ensembles. His recent work, Hansel und Gretel, was premiered at the University of Arizona Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Chad Nicholson. Nichols was recently commissioned by The First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge to write What Tongue Can Tell? for chamber ensemble and choir, under the direction of Mr. Christopher Phillips.

Dr. Nichols is an Artistic Fellow at the Center for American Culture and ideas. His work involves authoring a book on listening to music, as well as producing a podcast called The Cultured Mind on arts, culture, and ideas. As a part of his fellowship, he writes new music.

Senior Fellow

Dr. James R. Harrigan is the Senior Editor at the American Institute for Economic Research, and the F.A. Hayek Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. He is also co-host of the Words & Numbers podcast. He was formerly Managing Director of the Center for Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona, Dean of the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, and Director of Academic Programs at the Institute for Humane Studies and Strata, where he was also Senior Research Fellow. He has written extensively for the popular press, with articles appearing everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to USA Today. He is also co-author of Cooperation & Coercion. His current work focuses on popular culture.

Fellow

Dr. Aaron Mobley is a composer, pianist, and musicologist. He is lead faculty in music in the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies with Berkeley City College, and is a professor of music with the California Jazz Conservatory, where he teaches counterpoint and composition. He holds a doctorate in composition and theory from the University of Arizona, master degrees in music and computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and an undergraduate degree in piano, composition and theory from Southern Methodist University.  As a composer and pianist he has performed with–and had original works premiered and commissioned by–members of the Dallas Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Voices of Change, and various ensembles and performers throughout America, Asia and Europe. Mobley has been the recipient of several distinguishing awards including an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, a research award in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University and a Meadows Award, among others.

Senior Fellow

Dr. Thomas L. Krannawitter is President of Speakeasy Ideas where he specializes in distilling the most important ideas—starting with the idea of human liberty—helping others to understand and use those ideas to improve their own lives.

He holds a Ph.D. from the School of Politics & Economics at the Claremont Graduate University. He has taught at Claremont McKenna College, Hillsdale College, Ashland University, and George Mason University, among other places. He was formerly Director of Academic Programs and Vice President at The Claremont Institute in California.

He’s one of the principal instructors for the Leadership Program of the Rockies, based in Colorado, and the Charter Oak Leadership Program in Connecticut. He frequently advises businesses and charitable organizations on communications, cultural development, and strategy.