Bloomberg Philanthropies awards up to $1M each to public art projects in seven cities

Eight cities are the recipients of up to $1 million each through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge Grant, which supports the installation of temporary public art projects addressing urgent civic issues like homelessness, healthcare, food insecurity and climate change.

“The arts have an incredible power to inspire creativity and spark collaboration on some of the most pressing urban challenges,” said Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P., and 108th mayor of New York City in a statement about the awarded grants. “These eight projects will help foster community action on issues like public health, climate change, homelessness, and more. We look forward to working with the winners as they bring their projects to life.”  

The winning cities were announced at Bloomberg CityLab 2023, which was held Wednesday through Friday in Washington, D.C. Featured speakers at the event included Mitch Landrieu, senior advisor and infrastructure coordinator at the White House, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and many others. Topics covered ranged from leading communities through rapid urbanization, to confronting emerging technologies, to reinvigorating economic development, and solving for housing affordability.

The eight winning cities of the latest Public Art Challenge are Atlanta, Ga., Baltimore, Md., Honolulu, Hawaii, Houston, Tx., Orlando, Fla., Philadelphia, Penn., Phoenix, Ariz., and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Bloomberg Philanthropies’ grants will cover project-related costs including development, marketing and execution. The investment is intended to be a catalyst and will not fund the total cost of projects. 

“These projects were selected for their compelling creativity and commitment to serving their communities,” said Kate Levin, who leads the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Program. “We look forward to supporting these teams as they bring their visionary projects to life over the next two years.” 

Each awarded project is focused on a different disparity. In Atlanta, funding will go toward the Thriving Together initiative, which addresses healthcare disparities via community dinners, a mobile art gallery, a festival and large-scale installations. Baltimore’s Inventing Light project, which is led by visual and performing artist Derrick Adams to revitalize the city’s Station North and Arts District. The project includes light installations and programming at five different sites. 

Honolulu’s Wahi Pana (Storied Places) project is intended to “disrupt perceptions of homelessness by developing nine installations along a main corridor in the Midtown Cultural Arts District through collaborations between professional artists and unsheltered individuals,” a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies says.

Led by artist Juan William Chavez, Orlando’s Art Pollination will address food insecurity by engaging artists and farmers to develop installations that raise awareness about the lack of access to healthy food. In Philadelphia, Healing Verse Germantown will engage with gun violence by inviting neighborhood residents of all ages to write poems in a series of workshops. The poems will be incorporated into installations in partnership with local businesses, community organizations and nonprofits. 

Phoenix, Ariz.’s ¡Sombra! (Shade) considers the impact of climate change by commissioning nine artists to create shade and cooling installations, bringing attention to extreme urban heat. Also about climate change, Salt Lake City’s Wake the Great Salt Lake addresses climate change through commissioned public art installations in each of the city’s seven council districts. The initiative will also bring a public art installation to the border of the Great Salt Lake, “responding to the persistent drought that threatens to dry out the lake in the next decade,” the statement says. 

Since launching in 2014, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge has spurred more than $100 million in economic benefits for participating cities and action across a range of civic issues. More than 600 cities have applied for Public Art Challenge grants; Bloomberg selected the eight latest winners from among 150 applicants across 40 U.S. states, the statement notes.