Google Arts and Culture launched in 2011 as result of a 20% time project from Googler Amit Sood. The idea was to make important cultural materials more available and accessible to people from around the world and to digitally preserve these materials to educate and inspire future generations.

Google originally partnered with 17 museums in 9 countries. Within a year the project expanded to include 150 museums in 40 countries. That number has risen to over 1000 partners!

The original name was the Google Art Project and the idea was pretty simple. Google Streetview technology would be used to capture images inside of museums to create virtual tours where people could walk through different galleries in museums from around the world. Visitors could zoom in on paintings and view a variety of facts about the different works. During the years since its inception, the project has expanded and evolved to include much more than art. During the next week, we will take a look at different aspects of this fantastic project and I will share some ideas for using it with students across grade levels.