Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s company, Bloomberg LP, has long provided financial support to museums to help underwrite audio guides.
Now his foundation is also getting into the act.
Bloomberg Philanthropies on Thursday announced that five cultural institutions will share in a new $15 million commitment to provide support for mobile technology.
The institutions - the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Botanical Garden and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - will replace their traditional audio guides with more advanced mobile guides that use technologies like GPS and 3D imaging.
News of the program was reported in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
“For me, support for the arts has always been about connecting people with culture by making it as accessible as possible to the greatest number of people,†Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.
p>On Thursday, the Guggenheim released an updated mobile app, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, in advance of the James Turrell exhibition, which opens June 21st.