Founded in 1999 as a joint initiative of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Division of Humanities, the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago is an interdisciplinary research center and nationally recognized leader in the emerging field of cultural policy research and education.

Our mission is to provide research and inform policy that affects the arts, humanities and cultural heritage. We achieve that by:

• Developing research that provides the basis for informed policy decisions affecting cultural institutions, activities, and markets at the local, regional, national and international levels.
• Generating policy options for cultural administrators and policymakers.
• Preparing students of public policy for careers in the cultural sector, and developing future researchers and scholars in the field.
• Advancing public dialogue on policy and culture issues of the day, through collaborative programs and working conferences that engage faculty, students, researchers, practitioners, policymakers and partners in the cultural and philanthropic fields.

The Cultural Policy Center serves as an incubator for new ways of understanding what the arts and culture are, as well as what they do, and how they can be affected by a range of policies in the public and private sectors. Our work addresses research, policy and evaluation in seven areas:

• Arts and economic development
• Cultural and civic engagement
• Cultural heritage and landmark preservation
• Cultural industries and globalization
• Cultural valuation
• Freedom of expression issues
• Intellectual property rights

We effectively address this wide breadth of study by drawing upon the extraordinary expertise and resources of the University of Chicago. Demographers, survey design specialists, and quantitative sociologists contribute statistical rigor to our efforts. Legal scholars, economists, and philosophers bring conceptual clarity. Historical, cultural critics, and anthropologists provide contextual and interpretative depth. These collaborations result in groundbreaking work on state cultural policy, the arts workforce, arts censorship, cultural amenities, economic impact analyses, and contingent valuation methodology.

The Center is dedicated to maintaining a leadership position in this emerging field.