Museums and other cultural spaces provide a unique window into the people and societies of different eras. They also provide cultural context that can help us to understand, process, and learn from our shared history. Our free Bloomberg Connects app makes it possible for users to explore resources from more than 50 iconic cultural institutions, whether you’re there in person or enjoying the app from somewhere else. The app includes resources to help everyone engage more deeply with history – from audio guides and exhibit information to interactive virtual tours, expert insights, and educational activities for children.
Explore different chapters of history with these guides recently added to Bloomberg Connects:
Discover New York City’s Resilience with New York Historical Society
Over the years, New York City has faced many devastating challenges with grit and determination. The New York Historical Society highlights these inflection points in “Ever Upward: Resilience and Recovery in New York,” a feature on its Bloomberg Connects guide. Historical artifacts from the Great Fire of 1835, the September 11 attacks, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and other significant moments help tell the story of the city.
App users can also hear insights from the Historical Society’s Center for Women’s History. Showcasing the stories of women across the spectrum of race, class, and culture, the guide features video content about individual women and the movements they led that transformed our nation’s largest city.
Explore the Diverse History and Art of New York’s East Harlem with El Museo Del Barrio
El Museo Del Barrio offers a bilingual English-Spanish digital experience designed to spark conversation on the importance of diversity, representation, and self-determined narratives in art. App users can explore El Barrio, either virtually or in-person, and take in the sights, sounds, and history of this diverse community which played an intrinsic role in the history of immigration to the United States.
The guide includes in-depth features on artists who are part of the neighborhood’s many communities, as well as a historical overview of El Barrio’s unique street art culture, which has been shaped by waves of European, Puerto Rican, and more recently, Mexican, Chinese, and Dominican migration and immigration.
Immerse Yourself in America’s First Museum of Modern Art with The Phillips Collection
Founded by art collector and philanthropist Duncan Phillips in 1921, The Phillips Collection was the nation’s first museum of modern art. Today, as The Phillips Collection celebrates its centennial, visitors can explore its diverse collections in Duncan Phillips’ former home in Washington, DC’s historic Dupont Circle neighborhood. The museum’s Bloomberg Connects guide includes extensive audio and visual guides to the collection’s key works, many of which are by icons including Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, Vincent van Gogh, and Mark Rothko. The audio guides also include commentary on the history of the collection and how the museum pioneered the display and celebration of contemporary art.
App users can also enjoy virtual, interactive tours of current exhibits, including “Hopper in Paris” which is on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art, and presents works by Edward Hopper during the artists’ formative years in Paris.
Learn About the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre on its Centennial with the Greenwood Art Project
Launched this past May to coincide with the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Greenwood Art Project is a community-led art project celebrating the rich history and legacy of Tulsa Oklahoma’s Greenwood District prior to the 1921 massacre, as well as the resilience of the community in the 100 years since. The project was part of our Public Art Challenge, an initiative to support public art projects that address complex local issues.
Virtual exhibitions on the Greenwood Art Project’s Bloomberg Connects guide include a timeline of the massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States, as well as “The Survivors,” an image archive that depicts survivors along with their stories of rebuilding. Bloomberg Connects users can also hear directly from the 30 local artists who contributed to the project as they discuss the significance of their work in honoring the past, present, and future of Tulsa’s Greenwood District.
Experience Edinburgh’s Old Town with Fruitmarket
Taking a trip across the Atlantic, the Fruitmarket guide on Bloomberg Connects blends art and history to take visitors deep into the history of Edinburgh, Scotland. Housed in two repurposed market buildings, Fruitmarket hosts contemporary art exhibitions, including “Night Walk for Edinburgh” by artist Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. A major hit of the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival, users can still find it on Bloomberg Connects, and take an extraordinary journey through the backstreets of Edinburgh’s beautiful Old Town, unravelling the complex history of the city through games, surrealistic poetry, and even a murder mystery.
Tour the Country Home of the Bloomsbury Group in East Sussex, UK
In the first half of the 20th century, the modernist home and studio of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in the English countryside was a gathering point for artists, writers, and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury Group. Today, it is open to the public as the Charleston House and Gallery. The space hosts year-round exhibitions, events and festivals, and users of the Bloomberg Connects guide can experience an immersive, room-by-room audio guide to uncover the history of the collective and its impact on 20th century art, philosophy, and literature. The guide also includes stories about the household and its guests, photographs of its unique interiors, and information about the key works that reflect the Bloomsbury Group’s experimental thinking and imaginings of a more liberal, collectivist society.
Download the Bloomberg Connects app for free via the App Store or Google Play to explore history, culture, and art at these and many other institutions. Stay tuned for more updates about Bloomberg Connects over the coming months as the app grows to include digital resources from many more exciting cultural institutions around the world.