Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) is an organization that supports and promotes the arts through workshops, events, exhibitions, and studio rentals. With 4 studios dedicated to diverse art forms, the team has built a unique space that nurtures creativity, curatorial exploration, and cultural connection for their members.
NYC, New York
Art Studios
When Michelle Orsi Gordon, Executive Coordinator at Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) started her position, she’d never imagined she’d be spending more than 10 hours a week on bookings alone. But post-COVID, with a vibrant arts community developing in Washington Heights, it became obvious that their email-and-spreadsheet system couldn’t keep up with demand.
“The hardest part was managing the emails—people changing their mind about bookings, relaying updates to security, and everyone expecting instant communication. I don't work 24 hours a day.”
Unfortunately, booking back-and-forth wasn’t the only thing demanding Gordon’s attention. Other more impactful work, like applying for grants, curating galleries, and managing workshops were also part of her responsibilities. She claims their decision to go with AllBooked “was just really obvious” because it “puts the artist in charge of their schedule,” meaning Gordon could shift her energy from tedious booking admin to work that drives a true difference for the organization. Yet, what they didn’t expect were the additional—and remarkably lucrative—benefits. The system more than paid for itself, revealing an entirely new source of revenue through occupancy insights.
While NoMAA first offered studio space strictly to artists in traditional forms—like visual, performing, and textile arts—the organization soon realized, after adopting AllBooked, that they could also open their doors to less traditional mediums.
Gordon explained that they constantly received inquiries from the wellness industry about renting studio space and the answer was always no—simply based on the assumption that their studios were already too booked.
With AllBooked’s reporting insights, NoMAA could view occupancy data by studio, time of day, and day of week. This revealed underused blocks of time and with them, a long-latent opportunity: opening the space to additional organizations.
“We saw that there were pockets of time that were always empty—like before noon we had very few bookings—so we opened up hours to wellness classes, and now we’re bringing in money we wouldn't have had before.”
Gordon went on to explain that NoMAA could also “easily show their funders how many hours of studio usage they were providing to their grantees,” which, as you can imagine, is a critical factor in securing funding. So, AllBooked not only boosted income through more bookings, but it also supported long-term growth with usage data that strengthened funding applications.
As a hub for diverse artists and arts organizations, each with unique needs, NoMAA needed a booking system flexible enough to price studios at different rates based on user type.
“We have solo artists who pay different rates depending on membership, and small arts businesses who run classes, which are priced differently from memberships. The rates automatically apply when they book because of the tags we set up.”
With AllBooked’s pricing rules and user tags, they built an automated system that supports their pricing strategy and removes the need for oversight. In Gordon’s words, “AllBooked’s like having another staff member!”
Interestingly, optimization didn’t stop there. Thanks to AllBooked’s reporting insights, NoMAA refined their strategy even more, and introduced a discount for bookings before noon—driving a 20% increase in occupancy.
“It’s really helped generate more income, fill the space, and support artists who can't afford the full price. It's just been a win-win for everybody.”
Beyond pricing, scheduling itself became easier to manage. At NoMAA, one room doubles as both a photography studio and performing arts space. Because photography requires more equipment, those bookings cost more than performing arts sessions. The challenge was making sure the room couldn’t be reserved for one activity while it was already in use for the other and that photographers had enough setup/breakdown time so performers’ rehearsals wouldn’t be cut short.
With AllBooked’s space sharing and buffer rules, the team solved both problems. They blocked one activity when the other was in use and added in a 30-minute buffer around photography sessions. The result? They could charge different prices for different booking types, keep the space available to both groups, and deliver a seamless customer experience for everyone.
It wasn’t just scheduling that improved, payments did too. When spreadsheets and emails became overwhelming, AllBooked automated the process. Tasks that once took hours—like handling cash, tracking who paid when, and processing in-studio payments—are now handled automatically the moment an artist makes a booking.
Taking it a step further, she set up invoices to flow from Stripe directly into Xero, their accounting software, using AllBooked’s integration functionality. Now, as soon as an invoice is created, they sync directly into their accounting software, eliminating manual entry.
With these responsibilities delegated to AllBooked, she explains, “[We] can actually do things that need to be done in the studio, like helping people and setting up…rather than having someone sitting at a desk doing work that doesn’t make an impact—and doesn’t make anyone’s experience better.”
“This is the second booking platform we tried and it’s cheaper than the one that didn't work, so it was an easy decision. You have something that doesn't work and something that does work and the thing that does work is cheaper.”
Under their old process, Gordon spent hours trying to keep everyone in the building informed about bookings. As part of a larger arts complex, NoMAA has a wide range of stakeholders—security guards, the general public, and internal admins—all who needed access to scheduling information, but with different levels of visibility. Every time a booking was updated, there was no simple way to keep everyone in the loop.
Now, with AllBooked:
AllBooked made it easy to manage every detail through powerful access and visibility settings that tagged security guards with view-only access and members with booking permissions.
As Gordon put it, “It's just made everything better. AllBooked’s like a bicycle. It just goes when it goes—it runs in the background.”
Before AllBooked, Gordon was responsible for all accounting tasks—both client-related and internal—such as billing, invoicing, and reporting. As she mentioned earlier, AllBooked practically eliminated the work tied to client transactions. But the bonus? It freed her from the burden of preparing reports to her studio manager.
“He used to have to ask me about finances, but doesn’t need to anymore because it’s just really obvious to him. You filter by date, and you can exactly see what’s going on with transactions.”
With all the manual work of scheduling, accounting, and communication now practically eliminated by AllBooked—alongside a 20% increase in occupancy revenue—Gordon shared, “We're actually able to compensate our team more because we don't have to hire a part-time staff member to do the work.”
While the tangible benefits are undeniable, perhaps the bigger win is the relief Gordon feels knowing the system has her back: “Whenever a new scheduling scenario pops up at the studio, almost every time I’m like, ‘Oh, I can do that with AllBooked!’ That's a great feeling. I don't have to set up a separate system.”
So when Gordon’s boss asked why AllBooked was the right decision for their team, her answer was simple, “because it does practically everything.”
