CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago launched two exciting digital initiatives. Always seeking to enhance member experience and keep abreast of current technology, the Art Institute has developed two applications for iOS devices: a digital member card for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the museum's Member Magazine for the iPad. The Art Institute of Chicago is the first museum to offer such apps for members.

"We are very excited to be moving into this realm to better serve our nearly 91,000 members," said Amy Katherine Radick, the museum's director of membership and annual giving. "And we're also proud to be the first to develop and release these apps. Both of the projects came from the desire to fully engage with today's technology and ensure that our members' experience of the museum remain current with other aspects of life in the digital age. Now that you can scan a boarding pass or read magazines on a tablet, it seemed like the right time to explore how these developments might translate into the museum world."

The Art Institute's digital member card functions just as a traditional plastic member card. The free digital member card can be accessed via the iTunes App store. The download for the iPhone or iPod Touch prompts members for their member number or other identifying information, such as zip code or e-mail address. The app is adjustable for different member levels or multiple names associated with family memberships. Once downloaded, the member card lives on the home screen of the iOS device, and with the touch of a finger can be pulled up and scanned for museum admission, entry to the museum's Member Lounge, and member discounts at the museum's restaurants and shops. The sleek interface features rotating high-resolution images of the Art Institute's renowned permanent collection. The digital member card app was developed in-house by Matthew Norris, the Art Institute's director of application services.

In conjunction with the exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, the Art Institute also introduces the Member Magazine for the iPad. Developed by Maggie Malone of Cultural Media, Inc., the museum's publishing partner for the Member Magazine , the iPad version offers select feature content and calendars from the print edition of the Member Magazine as well as enhanced video content. This select content of the Member Magazine is available free through the Apple Newsstand to both members and nonmembers alike. Full content for members only will be available by the end of the summer. As print issues are published (every other month), the iPad content will be automatically updated.

Both the digital member card and the Member Magazine for the iPad require the most up-to-date version of iOS software.