About the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
Client: City of Phoenix Office of Arts & Culture
Industry: Private Foundation – Arts
Key Stakeholders: Sarah Leon (Community Investments and Engagement Director)
Client Since: 2019
Tools Used: SmartSimple Cloud
Overview
City of Phoenix Office of Arts & Culture supports one of the largest and most diverse communities in the United States. Its mission centers on equitable access, diversity, and inclusion in the arts, ensuring that underrepresented communities have meaningful opportunities to thrive in Phoenix’s vibrant cultural sector.
Challenges
The department was relying on a legacy portal that was unreliable, inefficient, and increasingly misaligned with the needs of their growing applicant base and internal staff. The breaking point came when the system crashed on an application deadline, creating chaos for applicants and internal teams alike.
Key issues included:
- Poor record-keeping capabilities
- A lack of centralized tools for reviews and communications
- Limited support for remote collaboration
- Stress and uncertainty for applicants and staff
Solutions Implemented
Facing a critical moment, the department needed a dependable, scalable platform—and they needed it fast. Backed by leadership support, they implemented SmartSimple Cloud for Grants Management on a tight timeline.
Impact & Outcomes
With SmartSimple Cloud in place, the Office of Arts & Culture turned anxiety and operational uncertainty into confidence and clarity for both applicants and staff.
Benefits realized:
- Greater stability and system dependability
- Streamlined panel review with the Meeting Module
- Real-time access to application status and reviewer feedback
- Customized access and Filtered Views by role
- Enhanced remote collaboration during the pandemic
- More efficient communication and application tracking
Client Testimonials
“SmartSimple stepped in at no charge to help strategize how to roll out the money quickly. We disbursed the funds so fast that the process we’ve built together set a standard for other departments.”
— Sarah Leon, Community Investments and Engagement Director
“Learning new systems can be quite daunting, but in this situation, once I figured out how it works, I learned to build things pretty fast.”
— Sarah Leon, Community Investments and Engagement Director
Key Takeaways
Now operating from a position of strength, the department is excited about the future of their grantmaking and the unexplored potential of their SmartSimple platform.