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Annual Report / Arts

Annual Report 2022-2023: The Arts

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.

London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, a free cultural destination created at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London, is just one of many arts institutions accessible on the Bloomberg Connects app. A visitor used the app to learn about Oliver Beer’s Albion Waves.
QR code for Bloomberg Connects

Download the Bloomberg Connects app

Available on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store

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

200

institutions live on the app, and growing

Over

1.5million

1.5million

user 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

Overhead image of a five-way intersection
Overhead image of a five-way intersection
Before
After

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

64

cities supported to create asphalt art projects in the U.S. and Europe

8,000

8,000

downloads 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.

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

$100million

in total economic benefits for the five winning cities

And reached over

18million

18million

in-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.

Video

Watch How the Museo de las Américas in San Juan, Puerto Rico is Making People Proud of Who They Are.

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

200

high schoolers interned at over 100 cultural organizations in 2022

More than

1,300

1,300

students 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.

Sculptures depicting hieroglyphics
Among many other cultural partnerships, Bloomberg Philanthropies has long supported The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden Commission series. The latest installation features Lauren Halsey’s architectural sculpture, the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I).

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.

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