Investing in the Arts to Strengthen Communities
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts program draws on the belief that arts and culture have the power to inspire creativity, spark collaboration, and build community around the world. We support artists, public art projects, and cultural institutions to strengthen the creative landscape in cities and improve residents’ quality of life.
Overview
Helping cultural organizations use digital technology to engage audiences
Supporting vibrant public art projects
Providing management training to strengthen local arts organizations
Sponsoring individual cultural organizations worldwide
Enhancing Cultural Experiences Through Technology
Bloomberg Philanthropies has long supported cutting-edge digital initiatives in the arts. Our Bloomberg Connects app features easy-to-use digital guides to a wide array of cultural institutions, from museums and galleries to historical sites and botanical gardens, across over 75 cities globally. It was created in 2019 by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with engineers and designers at Bloomberg L.P., and in 2022 it continued to grow quickly and welcomed dozens of new cultural institutions across the world. We also added new accessibility features, support for 28 languages, and other improved functions.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator program is supporting digital innovation and infrastructure at nearly 100 cultural organizations in the United States and United Kingdom. The initiative provides guidance and training aimed at strengthening their digital efforts to grow fundraising, drive revenue, and deliver dynamic programming.
Spotlight
Digital Accelerator
Through the Digital Accelerator program, New York City’s Tenement Museum upgraded its ticketing and customer management systems to add new fundraising capabilities, including the ability to donate when purchasing tickets. The program brought in more than 1,200 new donors, an 88% increase over the previous year.
Over
200
200institutions live on the app, and growing
Over
1.5million
1.5millionuser downloads
A visitor to the Frick Madison in New York City used the Bloomberg Connects app to explore the museum’s exhibitions.
Supporting Vibrant Public Art
The Asphalt Art Initiative supports cities to create vibrant art projects on streets, pedestrian areas, and public infrastructure that make them safer and more attractive. In October 2022, at Bloomberg CityLab, we announced an expansion of the program to 19 new cities across Europe, building on our work in 45 cities. In April 2023, we further expanded the program and will support projects in up to 20 cities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Bloomberg Associates has also produced a guide with tools and case studies to help more cities create asphalt art.
Spotlight
Asphalt Art Initiative
In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, an asphalt art installation we supported reduced average speeds through the intersection by 20%.
As part of our Asphalt Art Initiative, we commissioned a study of the impact of art on street safety, using historical crash rates and real-time analysis of driver and pedestrian behavior. Across nearly two dozen asphalt art sites, we saw strong evidence that art installations improve road safety, with a 50% decline in crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists and a 27% increase in the rate of drivers yielding to pedestrians with the right-of-way.
Videos
Watch How Public Art Can Start Conversations, Spur Change, and Strengthen Communities
64
64cities supported to create asphalt art projects in the U.S. and Europe
8,000
8,000downloads of the Asphalt Art Guide in 90 countries
In 2022, we supported a series of asphalt art installations in Billings, Montana, to connect North Park with the city’s downtown area.
Global Reach, Local Impact: Denver
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge invites mayors, artists, community leaders, and residents to collaborate on temporary public art projects that address critical issues in their communities. In 2022, building on successful Challenges in 2014 and 2018, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the third Public Art Challenge, which will award up to 10 winning cities $1 million each to carry out their projects.
An evaluation of the 2018 Public Art Challenge, completed in 2022, found that it provided
$100million
$100millionin total economic benefits for the five winning cities
And reached over
18million
18millionin-person views
Tulsa, Oklahoma, a winner of the last round of the Public Art Challenge, used installations such as Pathway of Hope, curated by Rick Lowe and showcasing photographs by Don Thompson, to tell the story of the historic Greenwood neighborhood, which was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Strengthening and Partnering with Arts Organizations
Our Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program has supported local arts organizations by providing general operating support along with management training to enhance their strategic planning, board development, fundraising, and marketing. Since its launch, AIM has strengthened 740 cultural organizations in 14 U.S. cities and Puerto Rico.
The Bloomberg Arts Internship provides young people with meaningful paid work experience at cultural organizations in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C., along with job-readiness training and college preparation.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has also built cultural partnerships with 700 arts institutions and countless artists in nearly all capital cities throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. As one of the largest philanthropic funders of the arts globally, we support exhibitions, artist commissions, educational programs, the world’s most important art gatherings, and more.
More than
200
200high schoolers interned at over 100 cultural organizations in 2022
More than
1,300
1,300students have now participated
The most recent group of Bloomberg Arts Interns gathered in New York City to connect and share more about their experiences interning at arts organizations across five cities.
Global Reach, Local Impact: London
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts program
Top photo: Bloomberg Philanthropies supported The Walk, in which a 12-foot-tall puppet known as Little Amal has traveled around the world to focus attention on the needs of young refugees. Little Amal’s journeys are produced by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company.
Elevating the Power of the Arts to Enhance Communities
The Arts program draws on the belief that arts and culture have the power to inspire creativity, spark collaboration, and build community across the United States and around the world. Bloomberg Philanthropies supports artists, public art projects, and cultural institutions to strengthen the creative landscape in cities and improve the quality of life. These efforts include facilitating collaborations between artists and local governments to address pressing civic issues, building capacity for small and mid-sized arts organizations, and increasing visitor engagement through digital technology.
Stories of Impact
Erik James Montgomery
Fine Art Photographer, EJM Photography
Strengthening Digital Support for Cultural Institutions
Bloomberg Connects
Beginning with an audio guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999, Bloomberg Philanthropies has long supported the development of cutting-edge digital initiatives, including mobile applications and immersive galleries, to broaden access and encourage interaction with culture on- and off-site. Today, the Bloomberg Connects program supports new digital efforts in partnership with leading cultural institutions, from a dynamic mobile app to strong virtual programming – which is especially important as the pandemic has forced institutions to reach visitors in new ways.
First launched in November 2019, the Bloomberg Connects app, developed in collaboration with engineers and designers at Bloomberg L.P., is helping more and more cultural institutions share their world-class collections and content with audiences in their spaces and at home. More than 60 institutions across the United States and Europe are now live on the app, which is available for free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store and has been downloaded more than 600,000 times.
Digital Accelerator for Arts & Culture
The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of strong digital strategies at cultural organizations to build audiences, increase fundraising, drive revenue, and deliver dynamic programming virtually and in person. Launched in 2021, the Digital Accelerator program is helping 44 organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom to improve their use of technology. A Bloomberg Tech Fellow located at each institution is leading efforts internally, and the program is also convening technology experts to assist in project development and encouraging collaboration to share what works.
Digital Accelerator Spotlight
92nd Street Y (New York City)
Implementing an easy-to-use platform to share high-quality educational content with users and other cultural organizations.
The Apollo Theater (New York City)
Building a high-quality livestreaming system that will allow for wider distribution of live performances.
Artichoke Trust (London)
Implementing a new ticketing system to distribute free timed tickets, allowing the organization to follow up with its audiences for the first time.
Appalshop (Whitesburg, Kentucky)
Building an archive and digital asset management system of past content and improving connectivity among studio buildings in a low-bandwidth part of the United States.
Cultural Sponsorships
In 2021, Bloomberg Philanthropies supported 700 arts and cultural organizations around the world, part of a longstanding commitment to strengthening the creative landscape in cities and local communities. Ongoing sponsorships include innovative experiences like the Met Museum’s Roof Garden Commission series, sponsored since 2007, and Serpentine’s Back to Earth project, a collaborative, multiyear project highlighting the climate crisis. As the pandemic created challenges for fundraising and revenue for many cultural organizations, Bloomberg Philanthropies worked to accelerate financial support and helped launch new virtual programming to reach audiences online and at home.
Spotlight
Serpentine
Since 2014, Mike Bloomberg has served as chairman of Serpentine in London’s historic Kensington Gardens. Serpentine champions new ideas, including a focus on ecology and innovation, and hosts rotating exhibits that highlight the work of some of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists, architects, and designers. In 2021, Serpentine continued its annual summer tradition of commissioning an architect to build a temporary open-air pavilion as their first major commission in central London. Referencing community spaces across London, architect Sumayya Vally and Johannesburg-based architectural studio Counterspace created the striking Serpentine Pavilion 2021, and American artist Theaster Gates has been commissioned to design the 2022 pavilion.
London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE
Do Ho Suh’s commission for Bloomberg SPACE in London, Proposal for Sach’ŏnwang-sa, invites audiences to consider one of ancient Korea’s most significant archaeological sites. Credit: Marcus J. Leith
Bloomberg L.P.’s award-winning European headquarters in London is the steward of a remarkable array of historical artifacts unearthed during its construction, including the largest and earliest collection of ancient Roman writing tablets discovered in Britain, the first written reference to “Londonium,” and the earliest handwritten document in Britain. To showcase these artifacts – as well as the reconstructed remains of the Roman temple that was discovered on the site in 1954 – Bloomberg created the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE. Free and open to the public, it showcases the temple, artifacts, and a series of contemporary art commissions inspired by the archaeology of the site.
Supporting Public Art
Public Art Challenge
Stories of Impact
Jerica Wortham
Project Manager, Greenwood Art Project
The Public Art Challenge invites mayors, artists, community leaders, and residents to collaborate on temporary public art projects that shine a light on critical issues and encourage action to address them. The five projects selected in the 2018 Public Art Challenge — the latest round of the challenge — are tackling issues including racial justice, food equity, neighborhood blight, healing after gun violence, and climate change. Each city received $1 million to support their projects.
Podcast
Listen to Learn About the Importance of Creating Community through Public Art
Tulsa, Oklahoma, created more than 30 community-driven works of art to commemorate the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in the historic neighborhood of Greenwood. Jackson, Mississippi, developed installations, landscape architecture, murals, an organic urban farm, an elementary school learning garden, and an award-winning documentary to raise awareness of nutrition and food equity issues. Camden, New Jersey, transformed six illegal dumping sites alongside highly visible transportation corridors with large-scale installations addressing reuse and recycling. Coral Springs and Parkland, Florida, created five participatory artworks focused on healing in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. And Anchorage, Alaska, transformed a vacant building into an incubator and convening space for artists, designers, and community members to create projects addressing climate change, immigration, and Native issues.
Asphalt Art Initiative
Launched in 2019, the Asphalt Art Initiative helps cities create visual art projects on streets, pedestrian areas, and public infrastructure that make them safer and more attractive for residents and visitors to enjoy. The effort was inspired by the work of the Bloomberg administration in New York City.
In 2021, the initiative received more than 200 applications and awarded grants to 26 U.S. cities to implement their own vibrant art projects, with several projects also under way in European cities. These follow a successful first round of grants to 16 cities in 2020. Collectively, the projects have transformed over 96,000 square feet of streetscape with artwork while engaging nearly 6,000 residents and 186 artists in the design and installation process. Through the initiative, Bloomberg Associates produced the Asphalt Art Guide, which shares tools, tactics, and case studies to help more cities implement projects. It has been downloaded more than 6,500 times by governments and other practitioners in all 50 U.S. states and 83 countries.
The City of Reno, Nevada, transformed 18,000 square feet of underutilized concrete into a revitalized event plaza, made vibrant and welcoming by artist Brad Carney’s Locomotion: A City in Motion mural.
Videos
See How Cities are Being Transformed as Part of the Asphalt Art Initiative
Strengthening Local Arts Organizations
Arts Innovation and Management (AIM)
The Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program is helping leaders of small and mid-sized cultural organizations by sharing best practices for managing operations and accessing new funding sources. Piloted in New York City in 2011 and expanded nationally in 2015 and 2018, the program seeks to build the capacity of these essential institutions by providing general operating support along with management training to enhance strategic planning, board development, fundraising, and marketing. Since its launch, AIM has supported 740 cultural organizations in 14 cities and Puerto Rico.
Stories of Impact
Jennifer Goold
CEO, Neighborhood Design Center
In 2021, AIM provided its third year of support to 195 organizations in the latest program cohort, with a special focus on advanced training in social media or strategic planning. The effort aims to help each organization develop and implement an ambitious plan to address key challenges and grow.
Bloomberg Arts Internship
First launched in 2012, the Bloomberg Arts Internship program provides young people with meaningful paid work experience at cultural organizations in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston, along with job readiness training and college preparation. In 2021, 161 interns participated in virtual and in-person internships at 97 diff erent cultural organizations over the summer. In total, the program has graduated more than 1,100 students.
In 2021, the initiative also launched a pilot program that allows 17 interns across the four cities to continue their work part-time through the end of the school year, as well as an alumni network that connects former interns through events and an online network.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts program
Top photo: With Bloomberg Philanthropies’ support, the city of Paris produced Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Realized Projects, a retrospective of the artists’ work along the Seine, which was also made available on the Bloomberg Connects app. The installation coincided with L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, a posthumous work realized by Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s team in September 2021.
Credit: Sarah Basti/Courtesy of Christo & Jeanne-Claude Wrapped, a posthumous work realized by Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s team in September 2021