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Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Launches Creative Endeavors Workshop

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This winter, 糖心vlog官网鈥檚 Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation launched the Creative Endeavors Workshop, an eight-week arts and business seminar open to 糖心vlog官网 students and community members.

The workshop was proposed by Henry Howard, director of the Arts at the Palace, and implemented by Carolyn Strobel-Larsen, the director of entrepreneurship and innovation at 糖心vlog官网, and Melissa Davis, Hub director at Hamilton鈥檚 Partnership for Community Development (PCD).

鈥淔or many creatives, there鈥檚 a huge chasm between their craft and being able to envision how it could turn into a career,鈥 says Strobel-Larsen. 鈥淗enry, Melissa, and I put the workshop together with this in mind.鈥

Their first session welcomed Professor of Art Lynn Schwarzer, who facilitated group introductions with the goal for participants to get to know each other as creatives. Following Schwarzer鈥檚 introduction, Jillian LaRussa 鈥 an arts, creativity, and media adviser at Career Services 鈥 led interactive goal formation exercises. 

鈥淥ur main focus for the second session will be around business planning,鈥 says Strobel-Larsen. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do a hands-on session about mapping out the business, locating funding, and talking to potential customers.鈥

Subsequent sessions will address a variety of learning outcomes, including:

  • The development of a potentially viable business idea based on their creative talent
  • Basic business frameworks and support that are required to successfully establish and administer a business entity
  • Funding approaches and resources available for next steps

Student participant Olivia Saman 鈥25 attended the workshop to explore how she might develop her passion for photography into a career in the arts. 

鈥淚鈥檝e always discouraged myself from considering my art in terms of a career,鈥 says Saman. 鈥淏ut once I became aware of all the Creative Endeavors Workshop had to offer, I thought it might be the time for me to break that negative cycle of thought.鈥

By attending the workshop, Saman has realized her potential.

鈥淚 am so grateful for the experience that I鈥檝e had in this program,鈥 she says. 鈥淣ot only have I made professional progress as an artist, but I鈥檝e also met such passionate people. We have been able to truly push one another to grow as artists and business owners.鈥