Donors to cultural organizations and non-profits typically don’t like to see their financial contributions going towards overhead costs, but programming. Unfortunately, when staffs are underpaid (which they usually are), the organization experiences high turnover and the quality of services and products suffer. Keeping employees, donors and the larger community happy as a non-profit organization on a tight budget is indeed an art. ArtsArmy.org arts virtual assistants is a new firm that gives arts groups access to skilled part-time workers who understand the arts and perform tasks such as creating email newsletters, engaging audiences on Facebook, or writing grants. This creates overhead savings and even, as Ron Evans, founder of ArtsArmy.org suggests, offers significant competitive advantage. Evans believes that arts groups that utilize virtual assistants challenge the stereotype that cultural groups lag behind technologically.

While AI virtual assistants will soon be commonplace, ArtsArmy.org connects companies with live remote support. The virtual assistant is well-suited to non-profit cycles in which, certain projects and seasons require more staff for only a set period of time. Organizations can seek out staff when needed to perform a range of tasks from e-mail marketing, social media maintenance, blogging, travel coordination, and more. ArtsArmy.org offers Pay-as-you-go, Basic, Pro, VIP and CEO levels to pay assistants hourly wages.

Evans states: “Many arts groups have been hit by the recession: Funding is especially short and pay is low, which means arts workers often leave for better-paying positions that benefit under-employed workers as well as the arts sector…When you consider all the associated costs of paying a full-time non-profit employee with a narrow skill set, the alternative of hiring a whole team with varied skills through ArtsArmy on an ad hoc, per hour basis is a great value.”

When asked specifically what contribution he sees ArtsArmy making within the arts world, Mr. Evans said his vision offers arts groups a vital helping hand to curb spiraling administrative costs and increase audience exposure to cultural channels.