In any policy arena, the crafting of appropriate and effective policy depends on the quality of the information infrastructure that is available to the participants in that arena. Such an information infrastructure does not develop on its own accord. Rather, it is designed, developed, and managed as a critical element in policy formation and implementation. This should be no less true in cultural policy than in other policy arenas. [from the Introduction]

Perhaps the most important finding to emerge from this research is that there has been a dramatic resurgence of investment in policy-relevant research and information in the field of cultural policy. Government agencies in many countries are rebuilding their research capabilities after periods in which that research capability lay fallow; in other countries, research capabilities are being built for the first time; and the rise of transnational governmental organizations has, to some degree, created a demand for comparative research and information sharing as a prerequisite for collaborative, cross-national projects. It is probably fair to say that there is more demand for policy-relevant data and information than there has ever been before. What remains to be seen is the extent to which governments and governmental agencies will prove willing to make the necessary investment to ensure that that information will be sought out, collected, analyzed, and disseminated. As a cultural policy information infrastructure is built (or evolves) in the , it can only benefit from interaction with the already well-established efforts in other countries.

In 1999, The Pew Charitable Trusts launched an initiative to foster broader public appreciation of non-profit 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, 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 recommendaitons for bringing the U.S. forward in this long-neglected but important arena.  

CONTENTS
Foreword (by The Pew Charitable Trusts).

I. The Research and Information Infrastructure. 
   Research Questions.
   The Structure of This Inquiry.
   Institution-Based Models.
   Non-Institution-Based Models.
   The Ecology of the Information Infrastructure.
   A Personal Reflection.
   The Resurgence of Cultural Policy Research.
   What Constitutes Research in the Field of Cultural Policy.
   Numbers versus Analysis.
   Quality Assurance. 
   Policy Shifts: Decentralization.
   Policy Shifts: The Cultural Industries.
   Policy Shifts: Buck Passing and Defensive Research.
   Evaluation and Research.
   The Rise of Cultural "Observatories".
   The Rise of Networks.
   The Rise of the Private Sector.
   Research Programs versus Research Institutions.
   Making Links to the World and Policy.
   The Next Generation of Researchers.
   In Search of Money.
   The Absence of the from the Policy Debate.

II. Research and Documentation Centers.
    France.
    The Netherlands.
    Great Britain.
    Canada.
    Other Countries.

III. Research and Documentation Consortia.

Appendix. 

In any policy arena, the crafting of appropriate and effective policy depends on the quality of the information infrastructure that is available to the participants in that arena. Such an information infrastructure does not develop on its own accord. Rather, it is designed, developed, and managed as a critical element in policy formation and implementation. This should be no less true in cultural policy than in other policy arenas.