The Art Research Institute (پژوهشگاه فرهنگ، هنر و ارتباطات), also known as the Research Institute of Culture, Art and Communication (RICAC), is a government-affiliated research body in Iran established in 1998 under the country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی) — the agency that controls access to media on the basis of Iranian religious ethics and political considerations. RICAC’s mandate is to conduct policy-oriented cultural research in support of the ministry’s programs, and it has since 2001 administered Iran’s International Award on Cultural Research, the country’s only festival dedicated exclusively to evaluating research on Iranian culture and art. The institute publishes peer-reviewed journals on culture, communication, and the arts, and conducts national surveys to inform cultural policymaking.