STUDIO 53
Our campus is home to a state-of-the-art video production studio.
A bold new era of storytelling has begun at ISI. Thanks to the visionary generosity of Carol and Richard Griswold-Bacigalupi (Deany’s Days Foundation), we built Studio 53: a state-of-the-art media studio at our Kirby Campus headquarters in Wilmington, DE.
Studio 53’s productions have reached millions of viewers, extending ISI’s voice to campuses and communities nationwide. This expansion enables ISI to educate students in conservative thought and classical leadership, which occurs at scale in the digital spaces where they already are.
To achieve this, our media studio includes:
- A variety of professional sets and background options
- Cutting-edge 4K recording capabilities
- Green room and live feed for speaker guests
- Multi-camera setup for cinematic, broadcast-quality capture
- 32-bit float audio recording with hypercardioid microphones for crystal-clear, distortion-free sound
- Professional lighting grid designed for consistent, flattering illumination across all setups
- On-site post-production suite for editing, color grading, and sound design
- Teleprompter and confidence monitors to support natural delivery
The studio’s inaugural production was Daring Greatly with Johnny Burtka, a video interview series centered around Johnny Burtka’s book, Gateway to Statesmanship: Selections from Xenophon to Churchill. Available on YouTube, each episode features an in-depth discussion with a prominent scholar or public leader on statesmanship and the lessons we can learn from great men and women of history. The series immediately showcased the broadcast-quality excellence Studio 53 was built to deliver.
Building on that success, Project Cosmos takes the conversation further by exploring the moral and cultural order that undergirds Western civilization.
The series derives its title from the Greek κόσμος (kósmos), which refers to the universe considered as a system with an intelligible, meaningful order. Project Cosmos helps viewers connect the “Permanent Things” to contemporary American life and asks defining questions about our future.
This series is filmed off-site but utilizes Studio 53’s audio and visual technologies in every stage of its production. Your support powers the storytelling that reaches the next generation of leaders by strengthening ISI’s recruitment and outreach for in-person, on-campus programs.
Through educational media, ISI gives rising leaders in America a transformative encounter with the wisdom of the Western tradition and the examples of great men and women of history. This equips them for a lifetime spent championing ordered liberty, artistic excellence, economic freedom, and public virtue. Your support helps us bring the wisdom of the Western tradition to a generation seeking meaning and the chance to lead.
