"NCI is one of the last bastions of actively and rigorously cultivating aspiring critics to ensure that artistic communities and audiences, present and future, have highly trained and professional guides and documentarians."

"NCI changed how I write and how I think about writing about the theater. The top-shelf faculty, lead by Chris Jones, helped me freshen my perspective on how and why we cover theater the way we do, and I couldn't have asked for a smarter, more enthusiastic cohort of fellows."

"I am forever grateful for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and the National Critics Institute. The community there is one of such energy, encouragement, and creative development. I'm a much better thinker and writer than I was when I arrived on campus."

"Chris Jones did a great job recruiting guest faculty and drawing out their expertise with pointed questions. He responded to our work in specific, useful terms, and he served as an admirable model for what the profession can be."

"NCI was everything I dreamed of and more. From the big picture of the state of today's theater journalism down to the most precise punctuation in a sentence, Chris Jones led us through two weeks of intense but fun workshopping... I feel propelled into the career of my dreams, and I have NCI to thank."

"My time at the National Critics Institute has without doubt been the most transformative, inspirational, and empowering writing intensive I have ever been fortunate enough to attend. I'm not sure anything like it really exists. To be isolated from the grind of normal life in a cultural oasis with fifteen other brilliant, diverse, and seriously opinionated arts journalists, and to be able to focus solely on writing, is a gift every critic wishes to receive. Two weeks out, the change is noticeable. I've gained confidence. Thoughts come more quickly. Previous blind-spots have been illuminated, and my writing has become more muscular. This is thanks not only to the phenomenal leadership and faculty, but to the presence of the incredible fellows, all of whom I now proudly and enthusiastically call my friends. I am still processing the many things I learned, and still savoring all the memories I hope to never forget."

"This program is incomparable. And that's not just a word used lightly -- there is nothing to compare. To have talented colleagues, and access to their views along with exposure to and input from major critical writers on a national level, as well as the O'Neill's own specialist experience, is something very precious. We were fortunate to be there and now fortunate to know one another."

"During a time of great distress for arts critics throughout the country, the National Critics Institute is a vital resource for all aspiring critics. It is the only program offering support, mentorship, and empowerment for writers who wish to critique and comment on the arts on a professional level. The NCI is in many ways a last bastion for the craft of criticism, and must be supported, even expanded, so that criticism and arts writing stay alive in this country. I offer this from the perspective of a journalist who has seen theater, film, visual arts and music criticism die out in print publications. As a result, communities are suffering because of the lack of critics. The NCI allows writers and thinkers of diverse backgrounds to take the lessons they've received in these precious two weeks and apply them in their own communities, be it through blogs, videos, magazine features, essays and traditional review."

"Thanks to the O'Neill, I can now be a much more useful part of the theater ecosystem, both to the creators of theater and to my readers. To have access to a faculty with such a high level combination of practical reviewing experience, academic rigor and depth, along with direct interaction with theater makers and hands-on writing experience is tremendously valuable and so rare as to be unique in my experience. I can't imagine a more productive, useful and informative journalism experience, of any kind, in a two week period. I'm grateful to all involved, for what I'll always remember as a magical experience. But more than that, I hope the American theater world appreciates the value they're adding to theater by raising the standards of theater journalism for writers around the country. Ultimately, the benefit isn't to us as critics, but to readers, audience members and theater makers."