Entreprenurism for Creatives

The CH Humanities Fellows Program at Texas Tech University notes that "two-thirds of PhDs will have non-academic careers" and that it is "imperative to structure education...to more broadly prepare humanities PhDs to make critical contributions to society." Interested graduate students perhaps should be equipped with entrepreneurial resources, thought processes, and skills to explore the possibilities of pairing their innovative ideas into the business or industry sectors. If arts and humanities students become successful entrepreneurs, might their revolutions improve standards of living while promoting aesthetics? In addition to creating an income for themselves from innovative ventures, they also may create jobs for others and better conditions for a healthy society. For example, how might MFA graduates start their own studios following a sound business plan; how might creative writers with PhDs develop their own company offering on-line workshops to mentor developing writers? How might a PhD in humanities start a company that provides historic research to governments or private entities? How might choreographers start their own dance companies? How might graduates form limited partnerships to develop groundbreaking theatre venues or pop-up galleries? How might students develop their personal and business financial acumen to plan monetarily for their future dreams? How might a graduate student team with others to use design thinking to define their problem (i.e., employment after graduation) and to innovate entrepreneurial strategies before they graduate?The authors propose to develop a certificate and/or a "Maymester" workshop titled "Entrepreneurism for Creatives" designed specifically for graduate students in the humanities and fine arts, but open to graduate students across campus. (Note: Similar certificates, seminars, courses, etc., already have been successfully developed specifically for fine arts and humanities students at other universities including Virginia Commonwealth, Carnegie Melon, Sanford, etc.)The authors of this proposal have begun to explore courses already offered that might be included in the certificate. These courses currently are offered on-line and include no prerequisites other than graduate standing:
          RETL 5340 Advanced Entrepreneurship (3)
          RETL 6335 Advanced Concepts in E-Commerce (3)
          RETL 5350 Global Sourcing (3)
          PFP 5322 Introduction to Applied Personal Finance (3)

   Other courses to be developed may include a graduate course titled Innovative or Design Thinking. Design thinking is a human-centered, systematic process that empowers one to develop innovative solutions to a large problem, or for investigating a vague problem. Today's success is innovation, and by using the design thinking "toolkit" (Sanford University, CA) or methods from the discipline of design (i.e., empathy, collaboration, problem framing, ideation, abduction reasoning, prototypes, etc.), one learns to take an insurmountable task and break it down into smaller parts (primary issues) while focusing on the core problem (i.e., employment for PhDs outside of academia; and, entrepreneurism in the fine arts and humanities).
   Funding received from the grant primarily will be used to further research entreprenurism for creative and to develop a certificate or workshops for them using the Design Thinking model. This will include primary fact finding meetings comprised of faculty and graduate students from the fine arts and humanities; the synthesis of these facts among the authors of this proposal; and, then, the development of the certificate and/or workshop – whichever is found to be the most feasible. Funds also will be used to communicate with other universities who currently offer entrepreneurial certificates and workshops. Deliverables will include a proposal for a certificate curriculum, the development of the Design Thinking course by the Department of Design, and the possibility of a pilot Maymester workshop in entrepreneurism.
   The authors of this proposal include Professors of Design, Personal Financial Planning as well as Hospitality and Retail Management. All bring unique expertise in fine arts, design thinking, financial planning, and business leadership. Please see individual CVs.