The Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation was established in 1995 as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization to support the work of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. For nearly thirty years, ASCF and its individual and institutional partners and supporters have enabled the Institute to explore contemporary cultural change and its individual and social consequences.

Through the Institute, Foundation resources fund basic and applied research to educate the public and key societal leadership groups about the nature and challenges of late-modern society; to conduct inquiry into humane and democratic responses to these challenges; and to maintain the physical, financial, and human resources necessary to continue this work.

‍OUR DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY
The premise of the work of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture is that we live in a time of rupture that has generated problems at every level of our global order. We believe that the dominant paradigms for thinking about and addressing these changes are inadequate to the problems.

In finding new ways forward, the Foundation and the Institute actively seek a plurality of resources to support their research. Our mission is to operate in ways that build common ground in our deeply fractured world, not favoring resources from the right, left, or center, as we live out our commitment to the highest academic standards. We have sought and will continue to seek support from people and organizations who share our vision. The Foundation and the Institute will not accept support in service to any ideological or partisan objectives, nor from any funders who would seek to influence our intellectual mission.