A snippet from the Bloomberg Philanthropy Report
When people think of what builds a resilient city, they often point to roads, housing, or health care. But behind the skyline and statistics, there is something less visible yet just as vital: culture.
Art has the power to transform how people connect, how communities heal, and how cities define themselves.
In 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies invested more than $170 million in the arts, not as a luxury but as a lever for civic renewal and public good.
From museums and digital archives to street murals and performing arts, the foundation’s approach shows how cultural infrastructure can be as essential as physical infrastructure.
While much of this investment is based in the U.S. and Europe, the underlying strategy of making the arts accessible, impactful, and sustainable is highly relevant for African cities with growing creative economies.
As the continent’s cultural voices expand onto the global stage, Bloomberg’s work offers a framework that philanthropists, city leaders, and artists across Africa may find worth adapting.
Investing in Culture as Infrastructure
According to the Bloomberg Philanthropies Annual Report 2024–2025, the foundation sees cultural investment as a core strategy for building strong cities. Their Arts program spans visual and performing arts, cultural policy, digital engagement, and public art.
“The arts are a powerful way to bring people together, spark civic pride, and drive local economies,” the report notes.
One of the cornerstone programs is Arts Innovation and Management (AIM), which provides unrestricted funding and leadership training to small and mid-sized cultural nonprofits.
These institutions, often led by and serving communities of color, gain tools to improve governance, diversify revenue, and build long-term resilience.
Though AIM is currently focused on 14 U.S. cities, the model’s approach to pairing grantmaking with capacity-building offers a blueprint for African cultural funders and cities.
In many African contexts, small creative organizations carry enormous social weight yet struggle with sustainability. AIM’s method could help address this systemic fragility.
Breaking Barriers to Access
Beyond funding institutions, Bloomberg prioritizes making the arts accessible to all. Its programs focus on removing cost and distance as barriers, while also diversifying audiences and programming.
The Culture Pass initiative, a partnership with the New York Public Library, allows library cardholders to reserve free passes to dozens of cultural venues.
In 2023, Bloomberg expanded support for similar efforts that open doors to cultural experiences for low-income communities.
While these are U.S.-based efforts, the principle of democratizing access to culture resonates globally.
In African cities, museums and galleries are often perceived as elitist or detached from everyday life.
Applying a Culture Pass model via local libraries, schools, or digital vouchers could radically expand community participation.
Similarly, Bloomberg supports free public programming in parks, on transit lines, and in underserved neighborhoods.
These low-barrier engagements are especially important in societies grappling with inequality and polarization, including across parts of the African continent.
Art in Public Space, Civic in Purpose
Bloomberg’s Public Art Challenge is one of its most visible cultural initiatives.
The program invites cities to apply for up to $1 million in funding for temporary public art projects that address critical social issues.
In 2023, Bloomberg supported projects focused on mental health, racial equity, and environmental justice.
These installations were created in collaboration between local governments and artists, transforming public spaces into arenas for dialogue and reflection.
“Public art gives residents a way to reflect on the issues they care about and a reason to come together,” the foundation emphasizes.
Across African cities, public art is already a dynamic force, from graffiti in Johannesburg to murals in Nairobi’s informal settlements.
But large-scale, city-funded, socially driven public art remains rare.
Bloomberg’s Public Art Challenge shows how art can be integrated into civic planning, not just celebrated on the margins.
This approach could inspire African municipalities, arts councils, or corporate philanthropies to fund works that reflect pressing local realities — whether it’s climate vulnerability, migration, or interethnic harmony.
Supporting Digital Culture
Recognizing the digital shift accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg has also prioritized digital access to the arts.
The foundation funded infrastructure upgrades for cultural institutions and helped develop the Bloomberg Connects app, which provides free virtual tours and content from over 350 museums and galleries.
This is especially relevant to African contexts, where digital access often far outpaces physical infrastructure.
Young creatives are increasingly turning to mobile storytelling, AR/VR experiences, and online exhibitions to reach global audiences, but funding and institutional support lag behind.
Models like Bloomberg Connects could help amplify African heritage and innovation, offering a global platform for artists and curators to tell their own stories.
A pan-African version or partnership could bring underrepresented institutions into global digital networks.
Lessons for Cultural Leaders and Funders in Africa
Though Bloomberg’s arts programs do not currently operate in Africa, the principles behind them offer useful takeaways for governments, private funders, and creative leaders across the continent:
- Cultural equity matters: Support must go beyond flagship institutions to reach grassroots organizations.
- Arts access is civic access: Public programming can foster belonging, dialogue, and democratic participation.
- Invest in infrastructure, not just talent: Capacity-building, data systems, and digital tools are crucial for cultural resilience.
- Culture and development are linked: The creative sector is a major employer, particularly of youth, and should be integrated into urban and economic policy.
Africa already holds immense creative capital.
From Afrobeat to African literature, fashion to film, the continent’s cultural contributions are globally recognized.
What’s needed now is investment that builds systems, not just stages.
Why Culture Still Counts
In an age of disinformation, conflict, and global uncertainty, the arts continue to provide what algorithms and algorithms alone cannot: shared experience, empathy, imagination, and the chance to make meaning out of complexity.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ cultural investments are grounded in this understanding that the arts are not a luxury for the few but a necessity for the many.
As the foundation puts it: “Arts and culture help cities attract talent, build identity, and foster dialogue.”
For Africa’s emerging cities and cultural leaders, this is more than a quote. It’s a challenge worth meeting with creativity, strategy, and vision.
