Creative West

What Creative West does

Creative West is a Colorado nonprofit corporation headquartered in Denver, operating under the legal name Western States Arts Federation and previously known as WESTAF. The organization is one of six federally-designated U.S. Regional Arts Organizations supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, serving 13 western states and 3 Pacific Jurisdictions across a geographic span from the Arctic Coast to the Desert Southwest. It serves four primary customer constituencies: individual artists, arts organizations, state arts agencies, and arts advocates, delivering a mix of grants and awards, advocacy and policy services, regional convenings, and consulting/research through programs such as the Leaders of Color Network, Creative Vitality Summit, and Western Arts Advocacy Network.

Creative West's commercial differentiator is a portfolio of five proprietary cloud-based technology platforms: CaFÉ (Call for Entry) for online art application submissions; GO Smart for grants administration with pre/post-application forms, panel reviewing, and data reporting; ZAPP for art fair and festival application jurying, booth payments, and applicant communication; Public Art Archive (PAA), a free searchable database of public artworks; and the newly launched Opportunities Portal, which aggregates listings from the other four tools into a unified discovery gateway. The ZAPP product is operated through a wholly-owned subsidiary, ZAPP Software, LLC. The platform stack is supported by PCI-DSS compliant payment integrations (Braintree, PayPal), GDPR and CCPA/CPRA privacy compliance, and WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility commitments, with a 12-language accessible website reflecting the multilingual character of the western U.S. and Pacific Jurisdictions.

The organization operates a hybrid revenue model combining subscription-based technology platform fees (CaFÉ, GO Smart, ZAPP, Public Art Archive on annual billing cadences) with grantmaking funded by federal appropriations through the NEA, state arts agency contributions, and foundation support. Distribution is dual-track: direct field engagement with state arts agencies regionally, alongside self-serve nationwide platform distribution to individual artists and arts organizations. The organization has received Candid Gold status and Charity Navigator four-star ratings in 2026 for nonprofit transparency and accountability.

Name

Creative West

Legal name

Western States Arts Federation

Website

https://wearecreativewest.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Creative West is a federally-designated U.S. Regional Arts Organization serving 13 western states and 3 Pacific Jurisdictions, operating five cloud-based arts technology platforms (CaFÉ, GO Smart, ZAPP, Public Art Archive, Opportunities Portal) alongside grantmaking, advocacy, and consulting services for artists, arts organizations, and state arts agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Administration Software

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Centers & Community Cultural Organizations (BPAGAHAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO), Cultural Centers & Multidisciplinary Arts Institutions (THAJADAJ)

Keywords

• Arts administration software
• Grant management platforms
• Art fair management
• Public art documentation
• Online application submission

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Technology Platform Subscriptions: Creative West generates income through technology platforms (CaFÉ, GO Smart, ZAPP, Public Art Archive) that support artists' livelihoods and generate revenue that directly supports their regional work.
2. Grants and Awards: The organization provides grants and awards to artists and arts organizations, funded by foundations and government sources.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Creative West is a nonprofit regional arts organization that builds and operates a portfolio of proprietary software platforms (CaFÉ, GO Smart, ZAPP, Public Art Archive, and the Opportunities Portal) to manage art opportunities, grant applications, fair jurying, and public art documentation. In parallel, it distributes grants and awards, provides consulting and research services, and runs advocacy, convenings, and professional development programs for artists, arts organizations, and state arts agencies across 13 western U.S. states and 3 Pacific Jurisdictions.

Product overview

Creative West operates a portfolio of five distinct technology products for the arts sector. The portfolio includes CaFÉ (Call for Entry) for online art application submissions, GO Smart for grants management software, ZAPP for art fair and festival administration tools, Public Art Archive (PAA) for documenting and managing public artworks, and the Opportunities Portal as a unified discovery platform that aggregates opportunities across all tools. These products serve different but complementary needs within the arts ecosystem: CaFÉ and ZAPP connect artists with opportunities, GO Smart supports arts organizations in managing grant workflows, Public Art Archive provides documentation and discovery of public artworks, and the Opportunities Portal unifies access to opportunities across the entire Creative West technology ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CaFÉ (Call for Entry) Online application submission system that makes art opportunities available to artists by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and giving artists an easy way to apply to opportunities.
• GO Smart Affordable grants management software for grantmakers offering pre- and post-application forms, panel reviewing, and data reporting.
• ZAPP Provides art fair and festival administrators with tools to digitally collect and jury applications, manage booth payments, and communicate with applicants; artists can apply to hundreds of shows nationwide through a central website.
• Public Art Archive (PAA) Free, searchable, continually growing online database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad, with resources and tools for managing public art collections.
• Opportunities Portal Unified platform gateway for discovering artistic opportunities and finding artists for projects, automatically aggregating listings from all Creative West technology tools.
• Grants & Awards Program Direct grant and award funding distributed to individual artists and arts organizations in the Creative West region (13 western states and 3 Pacific Jurisdictions), funded by foundations and government sources.
• Consulting Services & Research Consulting and research engagements delivered to state arts agencies, arts organizations, and partners, covering creative economy research, policy support, and capacity building.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Western Arts AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlliance partner collaborating with Creative West on performing arts discovery programs and regional arts initiatives.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Blackbaud: Major enterprise software provider for the nonprofit sector including arts, culture, and grants management. Competes at a broader scale with Creative West's technology platforms across fundraising, CRM, and grant administration for large nonprofits and foundations.
• Western Arts Alliance: Strategic alliance partner of Creative West for performing arts discovery and regional arts initiatives in the western U.S. Operates as a broader service organization across performing arts touring, booking, and conferences that complements Creative West's mandate.
• Americans for the Arts: National nonprofit service organization for the arts that convenes advocacy, research, and capacity building across the entire U.S. arts sector. Comparable in advocacy and policy work to Creative West's Western Arts Advocacy Network but operates nationally.

Direct peers

• New England Foundation for the Arts: NEA-designated Regional Arts Organization serving New England, offering comparable grant programs, state agency partnerships, and artist services directly analogous to Creative West's portfolio.
• Submittable: Commercial SaaS application management platform used by arts organizations, grantmakers, and festivals. Directly competes with CaFÉ, ZAPP, and GO Smart as a general-purpose submission and review platform, with broader vertical reach.
• OpenWater: Commercial grants and awards management software platform used by associations and nonprofits. Competes directly with GO Smart in the grants management vertical with modern SaaS delivery and broader market reach.
• Arts Midwest: One of the other five U.S. Regional Arts Organizations designated by the NEA. Arts Midwest serves the Midwest region with comparable grantmaking, state agency services, and arts programming infrastructure, making it the most directly comparable peer to Creative West.
• Mid-America Arts Alliance: Another NEA-designated Regional Arts Organization serving the central U.S. It offers directly comparable grant administration, state arts agency support, and artist fellowship programs to Creative West, operating under the same federal designation model.
• South Arts: One of the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations serving the southern U.S. It provides parallel grantmaking, state agency services, and arts programming with the same NEA-designated structure as Creative West.
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: Sixth NEA-designated Regional Arts Organization serving the mid-Atlantic states. Provides comparable state agency support, grant administration, and regional arts programming comparable to Creative West's structure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/creativewest

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Creative West