9/16/21 - ArtPrize 2021 .... "Play the Game"

There’s no app to download and no voting. This year, visitors are invited to engage with an interactive web-app (the game) where you will award prizes to the artists. (Explore - Scan - Find - Award)

ArtPrize 2021 is taking place Sept. 16 - Oct. 3, 2021.   

Awarding prizes will be different this year.  Visitors can engage with an interactive web-app to award prize money.  Each prize awarded to an artist, directly impacts their chances of winning the grand prize. Must be 13 y/o or older to play.

The game is simple and follows four main steps: 

1. Explore. 
2. Scan.
3. Find.
4. Award.

Here’s how each step works. 

Explore. Just like any other year at ArtPrize, there will be hundreds of entries available for the public viewing throughout downtown Grand Rapids. As you explore, we encourage you to think deeply about each piece and even make a list of some of your favorites! This could come in handy when playing the game.

Scan. As you explore this year’s entries, make note of the ArtPrize signage throughout downtown. You’ll notice there are QR codes on every venue sign, event guide, and every kiosk that we’ve created. To use these QR codes, pull out your smartphone, open up your camera, and hover over the QR code. This will cause a link to appear on your screen. Tap on it. This will launch you into the ArtPrize game to find prizes! You can also go to app.artprize.org and use the scan button on the bottom of the screen to scan ArtPrize QR codes.

Find. Once you have scanned a QR code and verified you’re actually a human and not some prize-farming robot, a prize will appear on your screen. This prize will be either monetary or non-monetary. There will be ~500 monetary prizes that range from $250 to $1,500 and total up to $150,000. The non-monetary prizes will be related to that deeper reflection we mentioned above. There are an unlimited number of these types of prizes. A few examples of these non-monetary prizes are: “You Gotta See It Twice Prize,” “Monochromatic Masterpiece Prize,” or the “Crazy Realistic Prize.” Each is aptly named to provide a level of feedback to the receiving artist.

Award. Once you have found a prize, you will have a set amount of time to award it to an artist. You can search for an artist by entry number, venue, entry name, or artist name. Once you find the desired artist and their piece, select them and award them their prize. You can only hold onto one prize at a time so you’ll need to either award the prize or release it before you can scan and find another one. The more prizes an artist receives, the better their chance of winning the $50,000 grand prize presented by Wolverine Worldwide.!

Watch the video below to see a short clip of how this works! 

To read more about the new prize format and the motivation behind the change, visit this blog post.