Know Your Why!: Google Arts and Culture - A Gateway to Curiosity and Wonder

Spring is a great time to learn & explore something new!

April 18th, 2023

If you’ve followed my blog over the last several years, you might remember that I occasionally create challenges for myself to explore, learn, and share what I discover. Last December, I challenged myself to explore 24 Days of Teaching and Learning Resources.

My challenge for April is to explore something new each day and share what I discover. Hopefully, I won't let you or myself down! (April Challenge Update Doc)

I am exploring Google Arts and Culture and the Arts & Culture Keyword Blog. The Arts and Culture site is not new to me, but every time I open the page I discover something new and amazing. If I ever do another 30 Day Blogging Challenge it might be exploring something new on the Arts and Culture Site each day. Today I am going to share 5 new discoveries and I will also share some additional resources to help everyone to explore the amazing Google Arts and Culture Site.

The Arts and Culture Home Page changes daily, so one of the best ways to get to know Arts and Culture is to set aside at least 5 minutes a day to open the home page and scroll. This is a habit worth cultivating in a busy world.

At Google Arts & Culture, we build tools and technologies for cultural organizations to showcase and share their cultural treasures and stories with a global audience online.
Google Arts & Culture currently supports over 2,000 cultural institutions in over 80 countries, more than 200,000 high-resolution digital images of original artworks, 7 million archival artifacts, over 1,800 Street View museum captures, and more than 3,000 online exhibitions curated by experts. All of this exists together in a single unified experience.
Visitors can search for or browse artworks, landmarks and world heritage sites, as well as digital exhibitions that tell the stories behind the archives of cultural institutions across the globe. (Source)

If you are new or need a refresher for the Arts and Culture page, be sure to explore my Google Arts and Culture Cheat Sheet

Time Travel

It's not quite "Back to the Future" but it is pretty amazing to explore the world of art and culture from the Present to the Far Past. The Time Travel page features a slider that lets explorers view and learn about different times and cultures.

Present | 1960 | 1800 | 1500 | 500 | 2000BCE | Far Past

All of the images a clickable. Learn more, share, or add something new to your favorites.

Google Arts and Culture Shorts

Sorry, I jumped out of the site for a moment, but I had to share the amazing Google Arts and Culture YouTube Channel. Today I explored the "Shorts" tab for the first time. Explore something amazing and start a discussion with students in under 60 seconds!

Google Arts and Culture Twitter

Sorry, I jumped off the site again, but exploring the YouTube Channel got me thinking about other social feeds. The Google Arts and Culture Twitter Account is an amazing way to scroll and explore arts and culture. I love that many of the posts ask questions to engage curious minds.

Color Wheel

Working with a theme and need an image connected to color or emotion? Check out the "Color Wheel" to explore collections of art connected to a color.

Does yellow bring you a happy feeling? What about blue? Red?

Play

"Play with Google Arts and Culture" is an amazing collection of interactive "experiments" that bring art and technology together to engage learners. New games are also added several times a year. There is always something fun to explore if you need a brain break or just want to learn something new in an interactive way.