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How a global arts charity replaced a decade of spreadsheets with custom software in 3 weeks.
For decades ISTA ran their entire operation on Google Sheets and an ageing WordPress site. We built them one platform for bookings, invoicing, group planning, and certificates. End to end.
A global arts community founded in 1978.
ISTA is a UK-based charity and global arts community, bringing young people, teachers, and artists together through theatre, film, dance, and storytelling.
Founded in 1978, they have spent nearly 50 years building a non-competitive, inclusive approach to arts education centred on what they call ensemble learning: collaboration, creativity, and shared discovery.
Today, ISTA produces over 60 international events every year, from in-person residencies for students aged 9 to 18, to virtual workshops for teachers.
Things were slipping through the cracks.
For most of ISTA's history, every event was planned on Google Sheets. Bookings came in through an old WordPress site that exported them as a PDF. Someone then had to copy that data into a spreadsheet by hand before any planning could begin.
Things were slipping through the cracks. Invoices went out with the wrong amounts. Deadlines were missed because nobody could see the full picture. The team was working hard, but the manual work was creating real stress and pulling people away from the actual events.
So they tried Monday.com, a popular off-the-shelf project management tool, and we were the team setting it up for them. It helped. It gave them their first real structure. But Monday.com was designed for managing tasks, not for managing events with hundreds of attendees, complex pricing rules, and multiple international partners. The features ISTA actually needed could not be built into a tool that was never designed for them.
That's when we completely changed course. If they were already paying us to bend Monday.com into shape, we could put that same investment into building software designed for them from scratch.
Built around how they actually work.
Our approach was simple. Build software that fits how they actually work, not how a generic platform thinks they should. Everything else followed from that.
Discovery and prototype
We started with a discovery call to map out exactly how ISTA works. Within a week we had a working prototype on screen, so the team could click through it and tell us what felt right and what didn't, well before we built the full version.
Live in 3 weeks
First delivery was live within three weeks of the project starting. From that point on, everything ISTA used to do across spreadsheets and Monday.com happened in one place.
Customer booking portal
Schools browse upcoming events, book tickets online, see their booking history, and get discounts based on their membership level.
Automatic invoicing
Every invoice is generated in Xero and sent automatically. Customerspay via Stripe or Airwallex. Finance only reconciles at month end.
Smart group allocation
Hundreds of children automatically split into balanced workshop groups, mixed by age, gender, and school. Done in seconds.
Automated certificates
At the end of each event, every participant gets a personalised certificate generated and sent automatically with one click.
Custom event logic
Different event types — student residencies, IB teacher workshops, virtual sessions — each have their own setup, pricing, and reporting built directly into the platform.
Ongoing partnership
We did not disappear after launch. The software is now in V2. ISTA tells us what they need next, and new features ship within days, not quarters. Two years in, every request has been delivered or scheduled.
Tasks that took an afternoon now take seconds.
Hours of manual work disappeared. The team got their time back, and the organisation can finally grow without buckling under its own admin.
Let's find out what this could look like for your business.
If you qualify, we schedule a short discovery call to understand your business. Then we build a free prototype in 5 days, so you can see exactly what is possible before committing to the full build.
Join the list of our 200+ satisfied clients. You’ll be in good company.
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