Research
Current Research
Cultural Infrastructure in the United States
Launched Summer 2008
Throughout the last two decades, cultural organizations across the United States have been pursuing construction projects with great gusto. Groups of art lovers in American cities, suburbs and exurbs have been pooling public, private and nonprofit funds to construct state-of-the-art venues designed to enhance artistic goals. Many public and private building projects have been built as tourist magnets and tools of urban revitalization. Not long after the ribbon-cutting ceremonies associated with the first wave of these building projects, however, consultants and arts leaders began to express concern about their long-term viability. Since then, some organizations have been plagued by cost overruns, donor fatigue, and even empty auditoriums and galleries.
In order to understand the direct and indirect impact of this recent building boom on arts organizations and their communities, the Cultural Policy Center has partnered with a group of private funders (the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and NORC) to launch the Cultural Infrastructure in the United States project (1) to investigate whether these building projects are meeting the core needs and objectives of the individual organizations that pursue them, and (2) to explore the consequences of construction projects for those organizations as well as for surrounding local, regional and national cultural ecologies. The goal is to generate a set of management tools and policy recommendations for a range of cultural sector stakeholders.
Protecting Cultural Heritage during Wartime: Learning the Lessons of Iraq
In response to the disastrous looting of the Iraq Museum in April 2003 and the ongoing damage to Mesopotamian
archaeological sites, the Cultural Policy Center has undertaken a multi-year initiative to explore policies and legal regimes
that will better prevent the pillaging of priceless artifacts and the destruction of historic and archaeological sites in the
aftermath of armed conflict. Under the leadership of Lawrence Rothfield, a team of experts has developed a
set of policy recommendations that aims to improve how governments, NGOs, foundations, and professional organizations of archaeologists and cultural leaders do their individual work and cooperate with each other.
The problem of antiquities looting is not limited to wartime situations. In peacetime, this problem can be addressed by
crafting and enforcing of laws and regulations directed at suppliers, distributors, and purchasers of illegally obtained
antiquities. During wartime, however, laws and regulations do not suffice. This project focuses on how, in the absence of
positive laws, civil authority, and policy powers – but in the presence of armed forces – looting can be
prevented.
Completed Research
Sponsored Research - Affiliated Faculty
Other Research
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