Arts Entrepreneurship, Minor
Arts Entrepreneurship Minor
Accelerate value for your career
Add just two prescribed courses (AA323 and AA424; 6 credits in total) and leverage 12 credits of courses already in your major. Learn to earn from your art.
The Arts Entrepreneurship minor (ARENT) – with separate tracks for different A&A majors – is designed specifically for College of Arts and Architecture students. Core courses will teach you skills and know-how to create a sustainable arts career, and the efficient supporting course options (which can overlap with requirements in your major) enable you to tailor the minor exactly to your arts focus.
alumni spotlight
Sa’ida Bronner
“The Entrepreneurship course gave me a comprehensive overview of the music industry and helped me understand my professional place within it. The assignment framework allowed me to explore my own career goals and faculty worked with each student to best support their academic needs. This course not only furthered my knowledge of my career path, but gave me real world experience with pursuing it. This class will provide an invaluable foundation to your career.”
Sa’ida Bronner graduated in Spring 2025 with the new Arts Entrepreneurship minor and she won first prize in the Arts Business Idea competition and was a recipient of the Director's Choice Arts Business Startup Funds Award.
Build a minor that is...
As unique as you are
The core of each Arts Entrepreneurship minor track is a 3-credit course in Arts Enterprise Development and a 3-credit Arts Entrepreneurship capstone research project. The remaining courses can be selected largely based on your specific interests and focus. Moreover, the additional and supporting courses are intended to double-count for minor and major degree requirements. The flexibility is a perfect fit for creative students in A&A, and the minor enhances the career opportunities of your major studies.
Why should arts majors care about entrepreneurship?
Learning the business side of the arts will empower you to create an exciting and fulfilling career in the arts based on who you are and what interests you, utilizing your natural talents and gifts. The Arts Entrepreneurship Minor is designed to help you create the future you want by empowering you with entrepreneurial knowledge and skill to help you make a living as an artist, or as someone who connects audiences to artists and their work.
Goal of Arts Entrepreneurship
Use arts products, services, and experiences to create, communicate, and deliver a variety of forms of value – such as aesthetic, social, and/or cultural – and capture value in the form of achieving an organizational mission and/or making a profit. Artists and designers can provide value to society through freelance, non-profit, for profit, leadership, and/or social entrepreneurship ventures.
High-Impact Opportunities
The Arts Entrepreneurship minor actively engages arts entrepreneurs and alumni to serve as tangible examples of success, role models, and mentors to students in the program. Each spring, students have the opportunity to enter the Arts Business Idea Competition – gain valuable experience pitching your arts business concept to a panel of judges. The competition offers cash prizes (think start-up funds...), and can expand your network of potential mentors and investors.
Which Type of Arts Entrepreneur are You?
- Do you create/produce art – composer, painter, performer, etc. (Lifestyle Entrepreneur)
- Maybe you support the production of art – by developing a product or service that aids creators/producers in their task (Lifestyle or Growth Entrepreneur)
- Do you draw audiences to art and artists – by developing a product or service that connects audiences to art and artists (Lifestyle or Growth Entrepreneur)
Maybe you're more than one of these. One. All. In every case, the Arts Entrepreneurship minor will help you build a sustainable arts career.
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Arts Entrepreneurship Minor
Student thoughts...
“The Music Entrepreneurship class is a must for any student who wants to have a successful career. As musicians, it is essential to be an out-of-the-box thinker when it comes to advocating and promoting your craft. Music Entrepreneurship happens to be exactly that: Understanding and applying business-minded skills to the creative arts. Dr. Gangi facilitates these skills by designing a curriculum that is practical and gets your creativity flowing when it comes to making dreams and ideas a reality. I highly recommend this class for anyone who is interested in bringing an artistic vision to life.”
Alex Mijangos, Graduate Music Performance Major
Arts Entrepreneurship
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