PHILADELPHIA, October 8, 2024—The Penn Museum has launched its first-ever mobile guide via the free Bloomberg Connects app and expanded access to its collections through the Google Arts & Culture platform. Free for all to use, both digital resources amplify the Museum’s ability to deepen engagement with its regional, national, and international visitors—both in person and virtually, from anywhere.
With nearly four million users, Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app, provides an easy-to-navigate guide, placing the Penn Museum’s world-renowned collections and stories in the palm of one’s hand—on a mobile device.
Joining nearly 600 cultural institutions worldwide on Bloomberg Connects, the Penn Museum’s digital guide offers video highlights of its history and commitment to cultural heritage; audio tours showcasing fascinating stories behind objects on display; and dynamic wayfinding maps with pinch-and-zoom capability for an enhanced on-site experience. It is accessible in 42 languages and provides centralized resources for users interested in exploring the 10,000 years of history and living cultural traditions represented throughout the Penn Museum.
The Bloomberg Connects app is available for free download here.
“It is a vital part of the Museum’s mission to make the collections in our care accessible to the widest possible audience,” explains Dr. Christopher Woods, Williams Director at the Penn Museum and Avalon Professor for the Humanities in the Penn School of Arts and Sciences. “These free digital resources will expand access for online visitors around the world and ensure that those who do visit us in person deepen their connection to the stories our galleries tell.”
To mark its first weekend, visitors who present their Bloomberg Connects app at the Museum Café will receive 20% off their purchase from Friday, October 11 through Sunday October 13.
In addition, more than 280 objects from the Penn Museum’s collections are now available through the web- and mobile-based platform Google Arts & Culture—sharing art, culture, and histories from more than 3,000 cultural institutions in 85 countries. With features such as zoom views of high-resolution images and intuitive search functions to navigate related content, every object connects to similar collections, creating a rich, accessible global resource of cultural heritage. For its online exhibit, the Penn Museum’s “Collections from Across the Globe,” offers virtual visitors an avenue to examine the stunning jewelry of a Mesopotamian queen, a statue of a wrathful deity from Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, and other objects that tell the stories of diverse peoples and cultures.
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ABOUT BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: the Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy, as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3 billion. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org, sign up for its newsletter, or follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, Facebook, and X.
ABOUT GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE
Google Arts & Culture puts the collections of more than 2,000 museums at your fingertips. It’s an immersive way to explore art, history, and the wonders of the world, from Van Gogh’s bedroom paintings to the women’s rights movement and the Taj Mahal. The Google Arts & Culture app is free and available online for iOS and Android. Its team has been an innovation partner for cultural institutions since 2011. They develop technologies that help preserve and share culture and allow curators to create engaging exhibitions online and offline, inside museums.
ABOUT THE PENN MUSEUM
The Penn Museum’s mission is to be a center for inquiry and the ongoing exploration of humanity for our University of Pennsylvania, regional, national, and global communities, following ethical standards and practices.
Through conducting research, stewarding collections, creating learning opportunities, sharing stories, and creating experiences that expand access to archaeology and anthropology, the Museum builds empathy and connections across diverse cultures.
The Penn Museum is open Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–5:00 pm. On first Wednesdays of the month, it is open until 8:00 pm. The Café is open Tuesday–Thursday, 9:00 am–3:00 pm and Friday and Saturday, 10:00 am–2:00 pm. On Sundays, the Café is open 10:30 am–2:30 pm. For information, visit www.penn.museum, call 215.898.4000, or follow @PennMuseum on social media.
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Article Source: Penn Museum news release.
Cover Image, Top Left: The Bloomberg Connects app helps guide on-site guests during their exploration of the Penn Museum. Credit: Bloomberg Connects for the Penn Museum.
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