Overview
The Barrington Institute is an independent non-for-profit strategic research and media center dedicated to supporting and disseminating the work of experts and their networks in areas that have major impact on quality of life for the global community.
In collaboration with experts at think-tanks, universities, and corporations, and utilizing its own formidable media networks, the Barrington Institute acts as an efficient and knowledgeable producer of print and online publications, teaching materials, and digital media resources for professors, teachers, and students, as well as for citizen groups and as professionals in the corporate and not-for-profit nonprofit worlds.
The Barrington Institute is a partner of Berkshire Publishing Group, forming a hybrid of social enterprise.
Mission:
The Barrington Institute’s mission is to support and encourage international cooperation. There could hardly be a more appropriate base than the New England town of Great Barrington because it is the birthplace and hometown of one of the greatest global thinkers in the history of the United States, the African-American intellectual and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963). Du Bois wrote that he learned what democracy meant by attending the annual Town Meeting in Great Barrington, and one of the goals of the Institute is to further an understanding of democracy in global context. This line by Du Bois might be considered the motto of the Barrington Institute: “Now is the excepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.”
The Barrington Institute is a partner of Berkshire Publishing Group, forming a hybrid of social enterprise.
History:
The Barrington Institute was founded by publisher and author Karen Christensen to enable important but noncommercial educational media projects. The need for such an enterprise became clear through discussions with scholars, teachers, and community leaders who had projects in mind for groups (sometimes domestic and disadvantaged, but often international) that simply could not pay commercial prices for academic resources and instructional materials. Conventional publishers are unable to take on such projects, and even universities and think-tanks do not have the in-house skills or experience to handle such projects in a cost-effective way. The Barrington Institute’s facilitation makes it possible for leaders from the private and public sectors to do more with their networks, ideas, and resources.
The Barrington Institute is a partner of Berkshire Publishing Group, forming a hybrid of social enterprise.
A tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, U.S. 20-1670260
122 Castle St, Great Barrington, MA 01230 | (413) 528-0206
| fax: (413) 541-0076
Copyright 2011 Barrington Institute, Inc.