Project management for arts and culture professionals
Coordinate your teams and prepare your performances while keeping track of your creative projects.
No credit card required
A tool to coordinate your arts and cultural projects
Keep a clear view of your creative work in progress, technical preparations and upcoming performances. In an arts organisation, you need to coordinate artists, technicians and venues while keeping track of discussions and handling unexpected changes without disrupting the entire preparation process. Otilus helps you organise this work, from the first idea to sharing it with your audience.
A concert is waiting for venue confirmation, an exhibition needs precise measurements and a show requires its final technical adjustments. Between performers’ availability, missing set pieces and rescheduled rehearsals, obstacles can build up. A project may seem ready while still missing a technical rider or an essential agreement needed for the venue to host it successfully.
In Otilus, each card represents a project: a concert, an exhibition or a theatre production. The columns show its stages. You can quickly identify projects in creative development, those involving technical teams and those on hold. Card types distinguish your projects, making it easy to find video productions or live shows when preparing a meeting with the people involved.
Kanban: Visualise your arts and cultural projects and their progress, from concept to performance.
GTD: Organise each project’s tasks, notes and files to prepare your work.
Gantt: View creative stages and deadlines on a timeline.
Workflow: Automate task creation based on your project types.
Inside each card, you detail the actions :
confirm availability, prepare rehearsals, gather technical requirements or organise the set build. Task assignments clarify who is involved, while priorities help focus everyone’s efforts before the performance. Notes and attachments bring together creative intentions, plans and technical documents relevant to the project. You have a shared framework for coordinating artists, technical managers and production managers while preserving the distinctive character of each artistic project.
An example board for tracking your projects
Here is a customisable setup example for an organisation that stages concerts, exhibitions and live shows. Each card corresponds to a separate project, with its own tasks and deadlines. The five columns provide an overview of progress, while the six card types distinguish different projects. You can adapt their names to your organisation, the role of rehearsals in your creative process and the requirements of the venues hosting your events.
Stages that fit the way you work
In this example, the Concept/idea, Creative development, Production and Performance columns show how projects are progressing. The On hold column keeps paused projects visible while awaiting availability, funding or confirmation from the host venue.
Some example project types: define your own!
- Concert: a musical project presented to an audience, bringing together artists, programming and technical resources.
- Exhibition: a presentation of artworks, combining visitor routes, installation and visitor reception.
- Video production: an audiovisual project, from the initial concept to the finished film.
- Scenography: the design of spaces for exhibitions, performances and installations.
- Live show: a stage production bringing together performers, sets and technical operations.
- Theatre: a dramatic production combining acting, dramaturgy and stage design.
Scenarios and workflows:
customise automation for your projects
1️⃣ The trigger
A concert was first outlined in Concept/idea, then developed in Creative development. Once the artists have agreed on the programme, the production manager moves its card to Production to prepare the venue arrangements and technical setup.
You can configure a scenario that triggers when a card of type Concert enters the Production column. Otilus recognises this combination and creates the planned tasks for the team. You choose the actions to prepare, the people involved and their priorities, according to the concert’s needs and your arts organisation’s working practices.
2️⃣ The actions (workflow)
Otilus automatically creates the tasks defined in the scenario:
- confirm load-in and setup times
- collect the artists’ technical riders
- prepare the stage plot
- check with the venue which equipment is available for the concert.
These actions are assigned to the team members you choose:
the production coordinator for setup times, the technical manager for equipment and the artists for their technical requirements. You customise the tasks, their assignees and their priorities.
3️⃣ The result
The concert moves into production with clearly defined actions and responsibilities. Everyone involved can view their tasks, instructions and relevant files, then mark completed actions.
The production manager can identify the preparations still needed before the artists arrive and the stage is set up.
The team stays in control of preparations and technical decisions. When the concert is ready, the manager manually moves the card to Performance. If the venue’s availability remains uncertain, they move the project to On hold to make this waiting period visible on the shared board.
An approach tailored to arts and live performance professionals
This board can suit a dance company, a musical ensemble, an artists’ collective, a cultural centre or an association organising festivals. These activities share a creative process, collaboration between contributors, technical preparations and a public presentation. Card types can reflect their specialities: choreographic works, art trails or multidisciplinary events. The stages can be adapted to their research, rehearsal and setup processes, depending on the projects, team availability and the facilities and requirements of each venue.
Organise your creative projects, productions and performances on a board tailored to your artistic team.
No credit card required