Californians for the Arts, through the California Arts Council, has secured a state grant to build a nonprofit paymaster service for small theaters, symphonies, ballets, operas, chorales, dance companies, music organizations and other performing arts organizations throughout the state of California.

CalPayArt is a mission driven nonprofit paymaster service program specifically designed to support payroll compliance and lower insurance and unemployment coverage costs for small nonprofit performing arts organizations in California.  All qualified applicants will be accepted, and custom solutions will be designed for each participant’s unique circumstances by program administrators at Austin Creative Alliance, who have over a decade of experience providing this service to small arts nonprofits in twenty eight states.  The fee structure is designed to be as affordable as possible while also keeping the program financially stable so that it remains a reliable way to meet the needs of both small non-profit arts organizations and their artistic and administrative employees.  To ensure that the program remains accessible and equitable, fees will be constantly monitored, evaluated and modified as necessary with the intent to be as low cost as possible for applicants and the integrity of the program.

We encourage nonprofit performing arts organizations that have been burdened by the increasing administrative labor of onboarding employees, managing unemployment and workers compensation to sign up for this program and share the information with your colleagues. As more organizations use the service, there is increased ability to negotiate and aggregate costs which will result in lower fees overall. 

The service is now available for interested parties to sign up and access the benefits of a noN profit paymaster.  

What is a paymaster?

A paymaster works hand-in-hand with your organization by becoming the official Employer of Record for your employees assuming most of the employer’s responsibilities. A paymaster works as an administrative entity with your organization to facilitate the payroll process from start to finish, taking on all responsibility to ensure compliance with all employment and tax laws.

A paymaster is more than a mere payroll service company. Yes, a paymaster does provide payroll services, but those services are complemented with a host of administrative duties managed for you on behalf of your organization to ease the burden for you and your staff. These services include:

  • Administration of employment agreements (running payroll): 

    • Permanent full-time employees/workers (hourly or salaried, union or non-union)

    • Permanent part-time employees/workers (hourly or salaried, union or non-union)

    • Temporary employees/workers (hourly or salaried, union or non-union)

  • Comprehensive administration of union agreements and contracts

  • Assured compliance with all relevant employment & employment tax laws

  • Administration of required tax reporting and payments

  • Administration of annual W-2 filings, generation, and delivery

  • CalSavers administration

  • Administration of unemployment and workers compensation claims (as needed)

Working with the California Performing Arts Paymaster will also provide:

  • Deep familiarity and understanding of the nuanced complexities of small performing arts organizations

  • Stability to lowest cost workman’s compensation & unemployment insurance

  • Convenient service application supported by reliable and knowledgeable administrative staff

  • An encrypted and secure client portal to facilitate safe and compliant information exchange between you and the CA Performing Arts Paymaster

  • A secure employee-facing interface that allows employee’s full access to manage their personal payroll information safely and securely no matter which organization(s) they are working with throughout the calendar year

  • Reduced cost compared to for-profit paymasters and standard payroll service companies

 To request more information, please complete this form.

The California Nonprofit Performing Arts Paymaster is a program of Californians for the Arts, with paymaster services provided by Austin Creative Alliance. This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.