Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

Michael Bloomberg Gives $75 Million To New Manhattan Arts Center

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is still helping shape the city, most recently in the form of a $75 million gift to the Shed Arts Center.

The cultural hub, currently under construction in Hudson Yards, is intended to open in the spring of 2019, featuring a range of performance and gallery spaces, as well as a “lab” for emerging artists.

In advance of its opening, the Shed is sponsoring artistic events in other city venues, beginning, according to its website, with the three-year-long “citywide dance activism program” FlexNYC. Bronx-born conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner is under commission to create a new work that will debut when the complex opens.

“I’ve always believed the arts have a unique ability to benefit cities by attracting creative individuals of every kind, strengthening communities, and driving economic growth,” The New York Times quoted Bloomberg as remarking in a statement. “The Shed will help New York achieve all three goals.”

In addition to its arts programming, the Shed’s architectural ingenuity should prove a draw. Covered by a mobile shell, the building can be fronted either by a public plaza when the shell is retracted, or a large, multi-function performance hall when the shell is extended.

As The New York Times reported, with Bloomberg’s gift, conducted through his charity Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Shed will have raised $421 million of the $500 million it is attempting to secure through a capital campaign. Bloomberg’s gift has taken two parts, first an undisclosed 2012 donation of $15 million, and now an additional $60 million.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.