Website Design for Local Arts Organization
Scarborough Arts | Website Design
Full website redesign & digital transformation for a community arts organization.
Scarborough Arts is one of Toronto’s six Local Arts Service Organizations (LASOs). Its mandate is to bring arts and cultural programming and services — including community arts advocacy — to the Scarborough region, particularly serving equity-seeking groups and under-represented populations.They partnered with us to modernize their digital presence through a redesigned website.
Problem & Strategic Objectives
Client Needs
The existing website lacked modern functionality: members couldn’t easily pay for membership renewals online, and there was limited interactive capability (artist directory, job board, etc.).
A broad audience including community members with varying abilities needed to access the site, so accessibility features were crucial.
The organization serves multiple audience segments—artists, members, local community and visitors. They also needed to present programs, events, membership info, and more in a streamlined way.
Scarborough Arts needed a site that supported its mission of community arts and culture while also enabling digital tools to support economic development of artists, members, and collectives.
Strategic Goals
Enable online membership payments and automatic renewals to streamline administration and improve user experience.
Launch an artist directory and a job board (or build the structure to add these features) so the site becomes a hub for artists and arts-industry opportunities.
Embed strong accessibility features (change text size, background contrast, spacing, font types, etc.) to ensure inclusive access.
Refresh the website's design to reflect the cultural vibrancy of Scarborough’s arts community and support ongoing program information, news updates, and event calendar.
Position the site as a strategic tool for community engagement, artist visibility, and cultural / economic development — not merely an informational brochure site.
Our Approach
Brand & UX Architecture
The design work focused on aligning the website’s structure with Scarborough Arts’ mission and audience needs. We worked through a six-month consultation phase with staff and community stakeholders to map user needs and site flows. They defined key user journeys:
A local artist seeking membership benefits, directory listing or job board.
A community visitor looking for upcoming arts events, programs or news.
A donor, partner or stakeholder wanting to learn about the organization, its mandate, and how to engage.
Visual & Emotional Engagement
Recognizing that arts organizations benefit from strong visual storytelling, the design leveraged imagery and layout to convey community, creativity, and place. Working with the client, we ensured the new site’s visual identity reflected Scarborough Arts’ role in bringing artists to the community and community to the arts.
Feature-Driven Functionality
The site build incorporated concrete digital tools to meet strategic objectives:
Online membership payment system with automatic renewals, helping reduce friction for both the organization and users.
A pipeline for an Artist Directory (coming soon) and a Job Board — establishing long-term value for artist and arts community engagement.
Event calendar and news pages to keep content dynamic and timely, increasing returning visitor engagement.
A strong emphasis on accessibility: The site includes an app (or interface) that allows users to modify their experience (text size, contrast, spacing, font type) so that people of varying abilities can access the content comfortably.
Delivery & Platform
The site was built using the chosen platform and included training/documentation for ongoing updates. Given the multi-audience nature of the site, the design emphasized content manageability, so the client can update programs, news, events, and membership tools independently.
Outcomes & Impact
The new platform delivers greater functionality: members can now pay and renew online, and the infrastructure is in place for the artist directory and job board, which will enhance engagement for artists and members.
Improved accessibility means the organization’s digital presence better aligns with its equity-seeking mission, enabling more inclusive access to arts programming and information.
The updated website now serves as a hub for community arts, fostering better connection between artists, members, visitors, and the region of Scarborough.
With the new site live (publicly available at scarborougharts.com), the organization has increased capacity to support the cultural growth and economic development of artists, members, grassroots collectives, and the public.