The Golden Ages Project will investigate the causes of periods of extraordinary artistic flourishing, with a focus on patronage, institutions and all other enabling and encouraging factors that emerge from a broad historical study. Exploring case studies from Edo Japan to French fashion, the project identifies the decisions, institutions, and incentives that enabled great creative breakthroughs and asks what precisely the successful did right. The research will culminate in a book-length work examining how societies create the conditions for artistic greatness.