1. What role did this project play in your broader organizational objectives? What objectives can you now meet (or meet more easily) as a result of the work?

Toronto Arts Online is heavily promoted for ArtsWeek as the source for arts event information. We wanted to take the opportunity to show Toronto Arts Online’s full potential, and make it more user-friendly for first time visitors.

The real success of the site improvements came in the form of preparing it for ArtsWeek. Fruition Interactive developed a clear interface for finding events, including one -button access to ArtsWeek specific events. Fruition also added the ability to search for arts events by neighbourhood, which helped us achieve our goal of being acknowledged as a city-wide festival of the arts. The date search function was also made clearer to site users by developing a new search interface.

2. What particular successes do you feel you had with this project? How did it meet or exceed your expectations?

The Toronto Arts Council Foundation was able to isolate some key problems we needed solved, but were entirely dependent on Fruition to determine the most effective solution. We had specifically requested improvements to the event search system – including a new system for event navigation by neighbourhood, the printability of the listings, one -button access to ArtsWeek listings, and remedies to certain smaller problems. These improvements were all achieved in a timely fashion, and the design of new elements for the site was both clear and vibrant.

3. In what ways do you think working with Fruition contributed to those successes?

Toronto Arts Council Foundation is very pleased with the timely and efficient delivery of all changes to the site. We were particularly confident in Fruition Managing Partner Kent Wakely’s recommendations for solutions given his demonstrated level of expertise. Kent was also able to refine the experience of using Toronto Arts Online by testing the changes with people who were unfamiliar with our site. Kent was able to utilize the information gathered in this testing process to make clear recommendations on how to make the site more user-friendly. This is indicative of Fruition's thoroughness and resourcefulness.

Fruition also demonstrated impressive project management with this round of development. The TACF always had a clear idea of when items were to be delivered, and what was expected of us. Fruition was able to deliver all improvements as scheduled and within budget estimates.

- Jim Garrard, Executive Director, Toronto Arts Council