Creative submissions | Case study
Limerick Culture and Arts Office
Background
Limerick Culture and Arts Office and Submit
Governed by Limerick City and County Council, the Limerick Culture and Arts Office represents the growth in investment and delivery of arts and culture across Limerick.
Limerick Culture and Arts Office use Submit.com to manage application and submission material to their open call for Limerick Festivals and Events Grant Scheme, for the Limerick Culture Night event registration and funding support requests for same.
Festivals and events are critical drivers of economic and tourism growth, providing incentives for people to meet, gather and engage in new and exciting ways. The festivals and events run by Limerick Culture Culture and Arts Office have contributed to Limerick’s burgeoning reputation as an appealing and vibrant place to live and work.
“Before using Submit, we were dealing with a lot of physical paperwork, then making additional copies for adjudicators,” said Lizanne Jackman, Administrator at Limerick Culture and Arts Office.
“The process of databasing all applications and applicant details was time-consuming and required additional staffing to meet internal deadlines and turnover times.
We were uploading applications to an in-house file-sharing system that was not fit for purpose and required individual uploading of each application.”
“We would recommend Submit to others. We have found it to be an asset to our projects and workflow. It is customisable and flexible and should work well for an array of different types of projects and submission processes.”
A user-friendly platform
As Lizanne notes, Limerick Culture and Arts Office decided to invest in submission management software “primarily to help create internal administrative efficiencies in our office, but also to hopefully make the application process easier for the public.”
Lizanne and her team make good use of our multiphase submission functionality. They use the system for phase two of the Festival funding applications. In this stage, they are trying to re-engage with successful applicants to get post-event reporting on their festivals.
Low barrier for entry
It is crucial Limerick Culture and Arts Office do not place further obstacles in the way of applicants.
“It can be very challenging for local artists and creatives when starting so perhaps they will be less daunted at the prospect of applying to an online system,” said Lizanne.
With an online submission management system like Submit, artists can easily upload supplementary videos or images in support of their application. This process is much easier on the applicant than sending a self-addressed stamped envelope along with their application.
“We were worried some of our applicants would be unable to use the system, or of technical issues arising due to our lack of experience. But it was mostly problem-free, and any problems that arose were minor with the Submit team being accommodating when needed,” noted Lizanne.
Key Features Used
Tailored solution
As Submit.com is external to Limerick City and County Council, there were concerns from Lizanne and her team about internal resistance to buying in a service. Rather than explore a custom-built solution.
This fear was driven by data storage concerns both internally and externally. However, as Lizanne notes “we were given the go-ahead to use it, and a couple of members of the IT team requested access to see how the system worked with no issues.”
We come across tailored solutions in organisations frequently. On the surface, the sound ideal but maintaining these solutions can quickly drain budgets.
Creative submission management
Limerick Culture and Arts Office have enjoyed such a positive experience with Submit that they are exploring other ways they can leverage the submission management software.
“Once you become more familiar with the system, it becomes easier to use, and we’ve found it quite adaptable and user-friendly,” said Lizanne.
In the coming months, they will use Submit.com for their Short Film and Individual Arts Bursary applications. Finally, they will also use the system for their annual call out for poetry submissions to one of the longest-running literary journals in Ireland, the Stony Thursday Poetry Book.
“We were worried some of our applicants would be unable to use the system, or of technical issues arising due to our lack of experience. But it was mostly problem-free, and any problems that arose were minor with the Submit team being accommodating when needed.”
Get started today
If you think it’s time to streamline your submission process or you’re interested in more ways to modernise your current workflow and review process, talk to one of our senior solutions specialists today.
