For the past year, Fund for the Arts has enjoyed a dynamic working relationship with two incredibly talented volunteer teams at Humana Inc. in an effort to increase arts participation and deepen engagement across the community.

In February 2016, the first volunteer team from the Humana Digital Experience Center developed and launched the iOS version of the Louisville Arts Link, a free mobile app designed to help our community engage with the arts. With more than 1,500 public art events throughout the year, it used to nearly impossible to keep track of them all. Thanks to the 100+ volunteer hours of the Humana Inc. Digital Experience Center team, we co-created the Louisville Arts Link to serve as a central arts calendar where users can find all the information they need and purchase tickets. This project met with huge success, but we wanted to reach a wider audience.

In the fall of 2016, Humana came to us eager to put their skills to work in the service of the arts. This new volunteer team comprised of IT professionals, who had never developed a mobile app, nimbly developed and deployed an Android version of the Louisville Arts Link just weeks ago.

Humana has long been a supporter of Fund for the Arts through its annual giving campaign, so it’s only natural for their associates to want to try to meet other needs that go beyond the scope of financial giving. Our partnership with Humana provides a wonderful opportunity for associates to put their professional talents to use through skills-based volunteerism. The Louisville Arts Link app is not only making a positive impact on the well-being of our community, but it also offers our associates a professional development opportunity and a chance to fulfill their own sense of purpose. These associates make up just one of hundreds of teams across the company who are volunteering—last year alone, 47% of Humana associates tracked almost 500,000 volunteer hours.

Under the leadership of Kamal Kabra, the team began work with a goal of releasing the Android version the first week of January 2017. The team included Kabra and five other tech savvy volunteers: Vlad Efman, Ankit Srivastava, Zachary Woodward, Peter Lobo, and Susan Ray. Just about any professional has the ability to participate in skill-based volunteering if they leverage their hobbies and skills for good. These Humana teams took on the challenge and succeeded.

Fund for the Arts came to Humana with a vision for Louisville Arts Link app; it was only through their expertise that we now have a free app for the entire community. Furthermore, this project came to fruition through the support of Republic Bank and Louisville-based Do502. We sought for everyone in Greater Louisville to have a central arts calendar in the palm of his or her hand, and we were able to provide that with the help of these teams. Louisville Arts Link features a continuous feed of every imaginable local arts event with the added functionality of the Arts Card. Previously only available in a physical format, the Arts Card allows users to support Fund for the Arts directly and receive special offers like discounts and first opportunity to purchase tickets for events. There are endless possibilities for the future of the app and with the help of our skill-based volunteers and committed partners like Humana Inc., we’ll be able to achieve those goals.