Collaborating with Cultural Funders
Bloomberg Philanthropies partners with like-minded funders and leading cultural nonprofits to strengthen the field of arts and culture around the world.
America’s Cultural Treasures
Bloomberg Philanthropies joined sixteen major donors and foundations to support the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures, a $156 million initiative to support Black, Latinx, Asian and Indigenous arts organizations. Organizations were selected because of the vital contributions to diversity and excellence with impact.
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World Cities Cultural Forum Leadership Exchange
By bringing together cultural leaders from city governments across the globe, the World Cities Culture Forum’s Leadership Exchange inspires and drives problem-solving for the biggest challenges faced by cities. Bloomberg Philanthropies and Google Arts & Culture support the Exchange which facilitates collaboration between cities facing common challenges and brings together urban leaders in creative fields to support culture and the global creative economy.
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SMU DataArts
SMU DataArts is a nonprofit organization that makes high-quality data useful and accessible to arts and cultural organizations. SMU DataArts was originally launched as the Cultural Data Project in 2004; Bloomberg Philanthropies and other philanthropic partners helped the organization to develop its capacity and refine its mission. Bloomberg Philanthropies supports its work to promote data-driven decision-making in the arts. DataArts’ work successfully illuminates strengths, challenges, and opportunities for individual arts organizations — and the sector as a whole — by bringing together cultural organizations, grantmakers, researchers, and advocates who are like-minded in their desire to strengthen the arts community.
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Artist Relief
To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, Bloomberg Philanthropies joined a coalition of national arts grantmakers to create an emergency initiative that offers financial and informational resources to artists across the country. The fund has awarded grants to over 2,500 artists to date.
In addition to this work supporting individual artists, Bloomberg Philanthropies helped to create and launch the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund, together with a number of strong philanthropic partners. Facilitated by the New York Community Trust, the Fund supported New York City-based social services and cultural organizations affected by the pandemic. Grants and interest-free loans helped small and mid-size nonprofits respond to emerging needs, cover losses associated with the disruption of their operations, and allowed them to continue their critical work. Founding member funders developed the Fund based on prior experience in local disaster recovery and funding, including 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. From March to July of 2020, the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund distributed more than $110 million in grants and loans to nearly 800 New York City-based social services and cultural organizations.
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The MOSAIC Network & Fund
In partnership with the New York Community Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies is supporting a first-of-its-kind collaborative that aims to provide more equitable funding for African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) arts groups in New York City. Three-year grants are helping ALAANA arts groups to commission and develop artists of color, build archives to preserve their essential work, expand arts training and education programs for young people, and strengthen their organizational operations.
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Top photo: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a recipient of the America’s Cultural Treasures grant from the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and other philanthropic organizations. Photo credit: Andrew Eccles