§ · House Program
The Readers' Fellowship
Ten invitations per year. No strings attached.
The House rejects any bought opinion. It welcomes all free speech.
The Readers' Fellowship is a silent program. Each year, the House selects ten voices. They receive LUCID, the Library Editions, and permanent access to the Salon when it comes into existence. We ask nothing of them. No text. No message. No public mention.
We do not pay them. We do not sign any contracts. We simply send them, to Brussels, what the House produces. What they do with it is their business.
Why we don't pay
An opinion is either paid for or given. You cannot do both at once. A paid opinion is an advertisement. It is recognized as such by attentive minds. It almost always has no effect on the executives, researchers, and leaders that the House hopes to serve.
A given opinion, on the other hand, resonates. It resonates because it cost nothing to the person giving it, and because it bought nothing from the person listening to it. It is free. It is this freedom that makes it credible.
Who receives an invitation
We are looking for voices that would never accept an influence contract.
Writers
Philosophers
Scientists
Architects
Composers
Explorers
Journalists of ideas
What is never done
We do not send any briefs. We do not ask for any hashtags. We do not sign any contracts. We do not track what is published.
We do not organize campaigns. We do not set publication dates.
We do not send reminders.
One exception
If an invited voice wishes to write a preface for the Library, or participate in a House evening, they are compensated for their intellectual work — the lecture, the text, the intervention.
Compensation relates to creation. Never to opinion.
This distinction is our safeguard.
How to get invited
You cannot ask to receive an invitation. There is no form, no application, no procedure. Each year, the founder and the editorial director of the House — when appointed — select ten voices.
This silence may seem abrupt. For us, it is the only way to preserve what this program makes possible.
Andreas Cousouras
Founder · Brussels · MMXXVI
