INFORMING CULTURAL POLICY: The Research and Information Infrastructure

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with an appendix by RUTH ANN STEWART CATHERINE C. GALLEY In 1999, The Pew Charitable Trusts launched an initiative to foster broader public appreciation of nonprofit arts and culture and its role in American society. This initiative, “Optimizing America’s Cultural Resources,” was largely premised on the idea that the development of supportive cultural policies depended on providing more and better information on arts and culture to policymakers. In INFORMING CULTURAL POLICY, international cultural policy scholar and researcher J. Mark Schuster relates the findings of a study that took him from North America to both Eastern and Western Europe. His taxonomy organizes the array of research and information models operating abroad into a logical framework for understanding how the myriad cultural agencies collect, analyze, and disseminate cultural policy data. Schuster discusses private- and public-sector models including research divisions of government cultural funding agencies, national statistics agencies, independent nonprofit research institutes, government-designated university-based research centers, private consulting firms, cultural “observatories,” noninstitutional networks, research programs, and publications. For each case study undertaken, the author provides the Internet address, names and information for key contacts, and background documents consulted. In December 2001, under Pew’s auspices, eighteen key members of the cultural policy community met at Rutgers University to discuss the book’s findings and their implications for development of a U.S. cultural policy information infrastructure. Stewart’s and Galley’s appendix synthesizes the experts’ insights and policy recommendations for bringing the United States forward in this long-neglected but important arena. INFORMING CULTURAL POLICY was produced with the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts as part of its national cultural initiative, OPTIMIZING AMERICA’S CULTURAL RESOURCES. The goal of this initiative is to strengthen policy and financial support for nonprofit culture in the United States. The Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy, and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems.