A recently released app, Bloomberg Connects, aims to immerse Buckeyes in Columbus’ art scene.
According to the university’s website, the app was implemented by the Ohio State Department of Arts with the goal of providing students with self-guided museum and gallery tours, as well as curated local art content.
According to its website, Bloomberg Connects allows users to explore expertly sourced content and visitor guides to over 550 galleries, museums, gardens and cultural spaces from cultural institutions across the globe.
Megan Cavanaugh is Ohio State’s first-ever campus art collections manager, meaning she will be responsible for looking after Ohio State’s art collection and for collaborating with other university partners to provide greater visibility for local artwork, according to Ohio State’s website. She said the Bloomberg Connects app — powered by Bloomberg Philanthropies, an organization that dedicates resources to improving arts accessibility, among other causes — aims to help art-based organizations reach widespread audiences.
“The goal is to help people engage with this content and help institutions get it out there,” Cavanaugh said. “Most museums and public art collections don’t have the resources to build an app like this on their own, so Bloomberg provides an incredible amount of support to help get things going.”
Cavanaugh, also an Ohio State graduate and former head of operations at the Wexner Center for the Arts, said her first priority as the university’s inaugural art collections manager has been working with Bloomberg Philanthropies to effectively implement the app on campus.
The app aims to promote, innovate and expand the ways in which Ohio State’s community can engage with the university’s public art collection.
“We wanted to put all these things in one place and assemble these resources for easier access,” Cavanaugh said. “Maybe there’s a piece inside a building that you didn’t know was there — you can just go check it out. We also put links in there to other campus art collections, so not just art, but historical collections as well.”
Through Cavanaugh’s efforts, she said almost all art pieces on campus funded by the Ohio Percent for Art Program — a state program that, according to its website, “provides funds for the acquisition, commissioning and installation of works of art” within the state — have attached QR codes that allow students to learn more about the artwork.
Students can scan these codes and immediately see art-related content through the app; additionally, the app possesses a geolocation feature that allows users to see content from institutions worldwide.
“Maybe you want to learn about the Roy Lichtenstein sculpture right here on campus; you can read about it from wherever you are, but if you’re on campus and you’re walking by, you can scan a QR code and it’ll immediately pop up,” Cavanaugh said.
Beyond Bloomberg Connects’ campus launch, Lisa Florman — vice provost for the arts and an Ohio State professor in the Department of History of Art — said a revamped version of the Arts at Ohio State website was launched Sept. 5. The updated site is designed to boost appreciation for the arts outside of the boundaries of college centers and into Columbus’ wider community, she said.
“We’re a city of communities more than a single community,” Florman said. “We’re still trying to figure out how we can reach all of those various folks that might be interested in arts at Ohio State.”
Florman said the new integrated site works in tandem with the app to reach audiences throughout the entire Columbus area.
“Both the website and the app are intended to bring greater visibility to the good work that’s being done, but also to foster collaboration through that greater awareness of what folks in other departments are doing,” Florman said.
Florman said the new website was a labor of love, intended to stand apart from other college websites with an integrated departmental calendar that showcases initiatives across national public universities.
“There’s been a number of interdisciplinary initiatives, and those stories often didn’t get well-told because they didn’t fall squarely within one department or another,” Florman said.
Cavanaugh said students can look forward to more app developments within the coming months, including audio features and recorded interviews with artists about their work(s).
For more information about the Bloomberg Connects app, visit Ohio State’s new integrated website.
