When was the last time you felt excited about a loyalty program?\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need another set of Tupperware with ill-fitting lids or regrettable perfume samples. But perhaps a rewards program for the Seattle arts scene is more enticing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A new loyalty app called ViewPoints aims to nudge Seattleites to explore more of the city\u2019s cultural scene through discounts and exclusive perks. Users earn points by visiting local arts and culture organizations \u2014 like the KEXP Gathering Space, The Triple Door, Greg Kucera Gallery and Wa Na Wari \u2014 as well as smaller, artist-run spaces waiting to be discovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Points gathered by \u201cchecking in\u201d via QR codes at each location can then be exchanged for free tickets to local shows and arts experiences, like bookbinding or printing classes, discounts on art purchases, private gallery tours and other free perks around town.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The app, developed by local nonprofit Shunpike, soft-launched last year. With nearly 500 active users, it\u2019s now in the ramp-up phase with an eye on more visitors coming to town for the FIFA World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Seattle audience is always interested in finding new things to do,\u201d said Myles Haslam of Shunpike, who\u2019s leading the charge on the app. \u201cViewPoints is intended to be an inviting place for anyone who wants to discover more about the place that they live and participate in these arts and cultural moments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Executive Director Line Sandsmark said Shunpike has many programs in its portfolio designed to increase arts attendance and downtown activation. But this platform is designed specifically to support Seattle\u2019s entire arts ecosystem, which has been struggling for years as it slowly recovers from the pandemic and its lingering economic challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great tool for people to discover things that they might not know about, or to be motivated to say, \u2018Well, I\u2019m getting this as a perk. It cost me nothing to now go see something that I might otherwise not have tried out,\u2019\u201d Sandsmark said. \u201cSo it\u2019s all different ways of trying to support arts attendance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haslam said there are perks on both sides: Users get rewards, and smaller art spaces get to brush shoulders with major institutions on ViewPoints, perhaps getting a slice of their audiences, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Say you visit Foster\/White Gallery, and because you can snag some extra points, you discover something at a nearby art space that you’d never thought to visit otherwise. Maybe you get points for visiting the KEXP Gathering Space and some other art spaces \u2014 then end up purchasing a small painting with a discount through the app at a local gallery you hadn’t heard of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some rewards, much like your local grocery points app, are ephemeral: During Pioneer Square\u2019s First Thursday \u2014 a social affair<\/a> where people hop from gallery to gallery on the first Thursday of the month \u2014 you get double points for every visit. The Seattle Art Fair has popped up in the past as a place to score points, and Shunpike recently announced<\/a> that Bumbershoot will be a partner on the app this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, rewards on the app include 10% off your first artwork purchase at Harris Harvey and Winston W\u00e4chter galleries; that will run you 25 points, or five gallery visits. There\u2019s also a complimentary order of pot stickers or steak fries at the Triple Door (30 points, or two visits to the Seattle Art Museum); a $50 discount on a $500 purchase at Columbia City Gallery (four gallery visits on First Thursday); one free ticket to an ArtsWest show (50 points); as well as a letterpress workshop or podcast consultation (both 75 points). Previous rewards have included a private bookbinding lesson and letterpress lesson for two at Editions Studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n One ViewPoints user, Haslam said, learned of the letterpress class in a newsletter. She decided to work toward redeeming it to create custom handmade invitations for her upcoming bridal shower, taking advantage of double-points opportunities to save up points.\u00a0<\/p>\n Haslam said he\u2019s working to bring back similar experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to list locations like that as rewards and invite people into those spaces to really build the future of that audience is essential to how we’re going to keep the arts top of mind for years to come,\u201d Haslam said.<\/p>\n Sandsmark said Shunpike has been toying with this idea of a rewards program for a while. In fact, the idea was first floated about a decade ago. But it was quickly abandoned due to a lack of tech, know-how and resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n But last year, thanks to a $1.6 million grant from Allen Family Philanthropies (formerly known as the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation), Shunpike suddenly had access to all of the above.\u00a0<\/p>\n They were able to get a so-called \u201cwhite label\u201d app called Bandwango, which offers similar services in other cities, meaning they didn\u2019t have to develop a new app from scratch. Since then, Haslam has dedicated his time to building out the platform, recruiting venue partners and testing the experience with Shunpike\u2019s audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n The app currently has about 450 active users, which is fairly small \u2014 but Haslam said he\u2019s hoping to increase that figure to 1,000 over the next few months. He\u2019s also hoping to expand the app\u2019s participating organizations from 37 to 75.<\/p>\n He said to expect the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Bumbershoot \u2014 which will be active for its two-day run over Labor Day weekend \u2014 and other organizations to show up on the app soon. (Some other kinks still need to be worked out: On a recent visit to the Seattle Art Museum, there was no ViewPoints QR code to be found; staff could not locate one, either.)\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, ViewPoints is a three-year pilot program. Shunpike hopes it can stand the test of time beyond 2028 and become a permanent program.\u00a0<\/p>\n To Sandsmark, it could have a long-term effect on downtown and the cultural sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s a collective push to make the most of FIFA, but there’s also a collective push to look beyond as well,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re just excited to see how far it can go. Because I think it can go far.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n ________________<\/p>\n This coverage is partially underwritten by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The funder plays no role in editorial decision-making, and The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over this and all its coverage.<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When was the last time you felt excited about a loyalty program?\u00a0 You don\u2019t need another set of Tupperware with ill-fitting lids or regrettable perfume samples. But perhaps a rewards program for the Seattle arts scene is more enticing.\u00a0 A new loyalty app called ViewPoints aims to nudge Seattleites to explore more of the city\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2367211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21741],"class_list":["post-2367210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Free-Seattle-art-experiences-Theres-a-rewards-app-for-that.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2367212,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367210\/revisions\/2367212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Beyond the World Cup<\/h2>\n