The value of completed cultural projects worldwide in 2023 totaled $8.58 billion, and announced projects equaled another $5.62 billion, according to the latest Cultural Infrastructure Index from the industry group AEA Consulting. The accounting includes 192 completed projects that year, in addition to 198 announced projects through the end of December. 

The most expensive among the completed projects was the $500 million REX-designed Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City. The new Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville from BIG equaled that amount in the announced project category. 

The majority of cultural projects (52.6% completed and 56.6% announced) were registered in the Museum/Gallery subcategory, followed by Performing Arts Center for completed projects and Multifunction Arts Venue for announced projects.

The study cautions, however, when comparing the latest data to 2016 (its first year of collecting): “We see a more complex picture, as we find the volume of new projects — both announced and completed — increasing, while we see the value of investment decreasing, reflecting the current economic uncertainty affecting both the public and private sectors.”

Jeanne Gang's new Gilder Center extension at the American Museum of Natural History was another top-dollar American project, joining the new Buffalo AKG Art Museum (from OMA/Cooper Robertson) and the adaptive reuse of Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn (Herzog & de Meuron) in the Top 10 completed category.

Internationally, such projects as the Beijing Performing Arts Center in China and Seoul's Sejong Center for the Performing Arts led Asia in either category. Europe's included the forthcoming Grieg Quarter in Bergen, Norway, and the Aviva Studios complex in Manchester. Canada cracked the announced list's Top 10 with the $109 million New Brunswick Museum Research and Collections Centre from Diamond Schmitt Architects. 

17 projects formed the new Immersive subcategory. The report states, finally, "The locations of these projects are equally diverse, showing a growing interest in preservation and repurposing of built infrastructure for cultural uses globally."