They are 21st-century urban pioneers, firsts in their fields; they are the power women of Los Angeles's cultural landscape. And they are a unique phenomenon—in no other city in America are so many women running major cultural institutions. As a group, they are guiding the transformation of the city through a major renaissance. "We are still the Wild, Wild West; trendsetting is what Los Angeles does," says Ann Philbin, director of the U.C.L.A. Hammer Museum. "Because L.A. is a younger city, it is less tradition-bound, and the fact is, a suit just isn't the price of admission," adds Deborah Gribbon, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. "In L.A., society is tangibly less defined; therefore it is more open," elaborates Deborah Borda, executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic—which will kick off the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in October. "In L.A., because the future is often invented here, cultural institutions need to be playing a role in inventing that future," says Jane Pisano, president and director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. "L.A. looks globally—it has the kind of diverse global influences that open up all kinds of activity and programming that in a different time and place wouldn't be here," says Andrea Rich, president and director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "It becomes a microcosm of the city and the world; there's nothing myopic about it."