8 Cultural Activities to Beat the Winter Blues

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Winter can make your world feel smaller. It gets dark early, the cold keeps you inside, and it’s easy to feel stuck. Here’s some good news: Exploring museums and cultural sites lifts your mood and helps you feel connected to something bigger than yourself. Bloomberg Connects, a free arts and culture app powered by Bloomberg Philanthropies, makes this easy. It collaborates with over 1,250 museums and cultural sites around the world, offering audio tours, maps, videos, and expert insights you can access at home or during an in-person visit.

Here are 10 ways to use Bloomberg Connects to feel happier and more inspired this winter.

1. Listen to Museum Audio Guides at Home

When it’s too cold to go anywhere, Bloomberg Connects lets you explore famous museums from your couch. Listen to audio guides from places like the Whitney Museum of American Art or the Museum of the Home in London, where you can explore their famous Rooms Through Time exhibits and discover what life was like in a 1695 parlour at teatime or a 1956 bedsit before a night out.

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2. Plan Your Museum Trips Before You Go

Museum fatigue is a thing, and no matter how much you want to explore every single nook and cranny of a place, you may find yourself lagging a bit as you wander through a stretch of equally interesting galleries. However, there’s a way to avoid this by planning ahead with Bloomberg Connects. The app shows what exhibits are available and often includes maps so you know where everything is located. This helps you decide where you want to go and what you want to prioritize, giving you the chance to view everything you want to see before your dogs start barking.

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3. Discover Seasonal and Holiday Programming

Winter brings special holiday exhibits and events that only happen once a year. Bloomberg Connects can help you learn more about these unique offerings and give you an inside scoop as to how they started and why they are so well-loved. The New York Historical hosts the Holiday Express: Train and Toys show featuring antiques from the Jerni Collection. The New York Botanical Garden presents its beloved Holiday Train Show, where model trains wind through replicas of famous landmarks made entirely from plant materials. And the Museum of the Home in London opens its Winter Past exhibition, showing how homes were decorated and holidays celebrated throughout different eras.

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4. Find Cool Places Near You

Bloomberg Connects includes over 1,250 cultural institutions, and new ones join every month. The app goes far beyond major museums to include sculpture parks, historic houses, heritage sites, and public art installations, and winter is a great time to discover hidden gems in your own region—or beyond! You can browse by location or search for specific types of venues, making it easy to discover places you never knew existed. For example, the Lycoming County Historical Society and Thomas T. Taber Museum in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is one example of a smaller regional institution on the app. It showcases the rich history of north-central Pennsylvania, from Native American artifacts to a beloved collection of over 300 toy trains. The app provides detailed descriptions and/or audio narration that bring exhibits like their Victorian Parlor and Over of Fire Fighting to life.

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5. Experience the Performing Arts

Bloomberg Connects also features guides to performing arts venues like the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC), which presents classic productions like A Christmas Carol during the winter season. Meanwhile, American Ballet Theatre offers content through the app that lets you learn about the dancers, choreographers, and stories behind beloved performances like The Nutcracker. Even if you can’t attend a live show, the app provides videos, interviews, and behind-the-scenes content.

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6. Go Deeper Into Powerful Stories

There are some museums and memorials that tell stories so powerful that you end up leaving with either a feeling of inspiration or with a yearning to learn more about what you just experienced. Bloomberg Connects provides extra information beyond the signs next to exhibits to help increase your understanding of what you’re seeing and why it’s important. One great example of this is the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, where the app offers photo and video content that adds historical context to your visit. Before you go, you can watch the video “Who was Anne Frank?” and learn about the museum’s educational activities, helping you connect more deeply with this powerful story.

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7. Go Behind the Scenes

Museums hold far more than what you see on display, and Bloomberg Connects gives you access to behind-the-scenes videos and content. Think of this like getting a backstage pass to some of the most interesting museums around the world. At Imperial War Museums London, you’re introduced to the museum and can even hear directly from curators as they discuss the works in the Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries. In New York, the Intrepid Museum brings its historic aircraft carrier to life through oral histories from former crew members who served aboard USS Intrepid from 1943 to 1974. The app features stories from sailors, aviators, and officers who share firsthand accounts of life at sea during World War II, the Cold War, and beyond.

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8. Discover What’s Waiting for You Abroad

Winter is the perfect time to dream about your next adventure. Bloomberg Connects features museums and cultural sites in cities across the globe, from London and Paris to Tokyo and Mexico City. You can explore these institutions virtually before you travel, building anticipation and helping you decide where you want to go and what you want to do. As you find new museums to add to your travel wishlist, you can even save guides as a favorite in the app so you can easily find them later!

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Your Winter Companion for Culture

Feeling down in winter often comes from being stuck in the same routine. Bloomberg Connects gives you a free and easy way to add something new to your days. Whether you use it at home or bring it with you to a museum, garden, or performance venue, the app helps you learn, explore, and feel more connected.

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Kristin Templin