Art in the palm of your hand
Astral is the retro-futuristic trading card that connects you to the creative world around you — each card an artistic work or cultural moment, in your hands, literally.
Are you an artist?
Fill Out The Artist Interest Form →
◊ Connect
We will never sell your email
◊ Why?
Now more than ever we need art to bring us together. Our current streaming and social media platforms algorithmically isolate us while extracting data and money from artists and fans. We want to see art re-connected with place and people. We believe we can create a playful, enduring, and fun platform that helps artists and fans make real connections with their local scene.
◊ What It Do
Astral art cards are physical trading cards from your local music and art scenes. Tap, scan, and collect them all!
Tap
- Be the first to tap the card and claim it!
- Friends and fellow fans tap your card to power it up.
- Find special downloads, deals, and details from the artist.
- Help spread the word about your favorite artists.
Scan
- Find special discounts and prizes at events when you scan your card.
- Gain access to events and other gifts from artists.
- Connect with other fans when they scan your card.
Collect
- Build your card constellation
- Track the cards you've encountered in the wild.
- Power up your card the more you tap and scan.
- Find new art by finding all the cards in a series.
◊ The Vision
For Artists & Events
Keep what you earn.
- Direct Revenue & Connection: Sell cards at your events and through your social pages, giving audiences something physical and interactive to hold onto. Set your card prices, structure your own limited releases, and team up with other creators to build shared collections. It's a new, direct line to the people who support you.
- Exposure & Network: Every time a card is shared, it gains platform value — giving your audience a satisfying way to spread your work, and giving you a way to spot and creatively reward your biggest supporters. You become discoverable across the Astral platform through recommendations and collections, and across every Astral event where cards are sold.
- Total Flexibility: Load your card with what you wish to creatively transport — an album, a single, a film, a behind-the-scenes journey, a live set. We coordinate access with you through our platform. The card is the vessel; you decide what it carries.
For Audiences
Own something real.
- Functional Artifact: Receive a uniquely designed object that unlocks the artistic offering behind it — a piece of the memory of the art and the event itself, a form of direct support you get to take home. Powered by near-field technology, cards unlock gated media from the artist and mystery-interactives at live events, all with a tap.
- Connection & Learning: Grow a card's value through tap-sharing, and discover new art from others along the way. Build a deeper bond with the artists and initiatives you love. Complete a series, hunt down a limited edition, trade with friends, and connect with your community.
- Be the Change: Free yourself from the mainframe. Give and receive within a joyful, equitable platform of creative exchange. Have fun, open your mind, take the invitation. It's all in the cards.
◊ The Boulder Launch Collection
Here we come.
Astral's pilot series launches this year in Boulder — a limited card collection of local artists and events, bringing the format to life within our talented, innovative community. As a participating artist or initiative, you'll:
- — Be a part of a custom-designed, limited launch collection of Astral trading cards amongst talented peers and orgs
- — Receive an initial run of your cards to sell directly to your audience — at cost
- — Offer media access on the cards as a direct deliverable to fans (concert recording, runway photos, EP release, etc.)
- — Have your work and events promoted across our platform and pop-ups
- — Collaborate and connect with fellow members of the collection
Founded in and for Boulder's arts community. Non-extractive economics. BIPOC and underrepresented artists intentionally prioritized.