Culture software

// The problem

A regional museum keeps its object records, images and loans in a FileMaker file built two decades ago, on one office computer, with no backup and one registrar who knows how it works.

// What we would build

We start with a short architecture review of the old file and how your registrar uses it, then move every record, image and loan into a web collections system with roles, a change log and nightly backups. Every moved record is counted and checked with your registrar, and the old file stays read-only until you retire it.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• PostgreSQL
• FileMaker and Access import
• Object storage for images
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

A gallery has thousands of works catalogued but almost none online, and its old collection viewer fails on phones and with screen readers.

// What we would build

A public online collection designed with your team and tested with real visitors, including people who use screen readers and keyboards, with search by artist, period, place and theme, published from your collections system so records are kept in one place. Image rights and credit lines show on every work.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• Collections system API
• IIIF image viewer
• Headless CMS
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

A theatre sells tickets through one service, memberships through another and takes donations on paper, and its finance person reconciles the three by hand every month.

// What we would build

Ticketing for performances and timed entry, memberships with renewals and member pricing, and donations at checkout, all paid by card through Stripe, with sales posted to QuickBooks Online, built on its API. Patrons keep one account for tickets, membership and gifts.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• PostgreSQL
• Stripe
• QuickBooks Online API
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

A heritage site prints its visitor guide in two languages, tours in other languages need a guide on staff, and the front desk answers the same questions about hours, access and parking all day.

// What we would build

A visitor guide in a phone's browser, opened from a code at each stop, in the languages your visitors speak, with an assistant that answers from your own texts, names its source and hands anything it cannot answer to staff. Your interpretation team writes and approves every text.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• Claude API
• PostgreSQL with pgvector
• Headless CMS
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

Several museums lend and borrow works between them, and each keeps its own copy of the provenance research, condition reports and loan agreements, which drift apart over the years.

// What we would build

A shared web app where each institution records provenance research and loan documents, with a fingerprint of each document written to a private permissioned ledger that every member runs a node of. A signed PDF often does this job; the ledger helps when several institutions want one record that none of them holds alone.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• Hyperledger Besu (private, permissioned)
• PostgreSQL
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

A municipal arts council takes grant applications by email, assembles jury packages by hand, and rebuilds the figures for its annual report from spreadsheets.

// What we would build

An application portal where artists and organisations apply, save and return, a jury workspace with scoring and conflict declarations, award letters and final reports, and a dashboard of applications, awards and outcomes by programme. The rules and criteria are the ones your council sets.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• PostgreSQL
• Metabase
• Transactional email
• DigitalOcean Toronto

// The problem

A summer festival recruits hundreds of volunteers across several venues each year, fills shifts from a shared spreadsheet and sends every change by group text.

// What we would build

Volunteer sign-up with roles and availability, shift rotas by venue that coordinators build and change, and a Telegram bot that sends reminders, takes check-ins and lets volunteers swap shifts, in the languages your volunteers speak.

// What is in it

// Stack

• Next.js
• PostgreSQL
• Telegram Bot API
• DigitalOcean Toronto