College of Fine Arts and Center for Entrepreneurship announce panel topics, panelists and new pitch competition for OHIO ARTrepreneurship Summit

Twelve nationally known musicians, dancers, filmmakers, founders of arts collectives and studios and arts advocates will appear at Ohio University’s first ever OHIO ARTrepreneurship Summit: Where Art + Business Converge (OAS) on Jan. 26, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at both Templeton Blackburn Memorial Alumni Auditorium and Galbreath Chapel. The OAS will also host a new pitch competition geared toward supporting student artists with innovative arts projects who seek to bring their ideas to life.

OAS panels and artist-panelists announced

The OAS is open to all OHIO students, faculty and staff and is free to attend. Registration is required, open until Jan. 20, and can be accessed online at this website. Refreshments will be served throughout the day. OAS will bring expert artists and entrepreneurs together to unpack how the arts and entrepreneurship intersect and, through story sharing, panelists will reveal their career success and practice as arts entrepreneurs. The panelists will also discuss their collaborations with other arts entrepreneurs in their network.

The summit co-chairs and steering committee, made up of faculty and staff at the College of Fine Arts  and the OHIO Center for Entrepreneurship, secured internationally known keynote speakers for the OAS earlier this fall. 

“When asked to serve, these twelve creatives who are living and working throughout the country—many of them OHIO alumni—eagerly accepted because they believe strongly in the summit’s premise,” said Kelee Riesbeck, executive director of Arts Partnerships and Programs for the College of Fine Arts and an OAS co-chair. “They are ready to share their experiences, learn about OHIO students’ ideas and artistic practices, and answer students’ questions about the intersection of art and entrepreneurship.”

Panel topics and the artists serving on each panel are: 

Making something out of nothing: creating on a low budget 
Yaphet Jackman, Film Director, Founder of Bent Street Films  
Elisa and Shawn Smith, Co-Founders of the Columbus Printed Arts Center 

Creating and caring for your personal brand/identity
Michael Reese, Co-Founder of Reese Brothers Productions
Luke Frazier, Conductor at American Pops Orchestra and Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Nouveau Productions

Selling yourself (without feeling like you’re selling out)
Ami Scherson, Audience and Donor Data Manager at National Sawdust, Co-Founder of Mixt Collective   
Steven Evans, Co-Director of Mutual Dance Theatre, HR manager at Kettering Health

Breaking stereotypes: Bringing an art practice to all audiences
Patty Mitchell Founder of Passion Works Studio
Heidi Latsky, Founder of Heidi Latsky Dance 

Grant writing to support a creative living  
Lucy Sexton, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Culture & Arts 
Chaz O’Neal, Multi-media collage artist, Individual Artist Programs Coordinator, Ohio Arts Council

Creating art-based encounters as a maker and leader
Summer Logan, Founder of Bone & Fiddle Dance Collective 
Ellie Clark, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Voices Amplified, Co-Owner of Actors Room 

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Announcing Arts Launch, a pitch competition for student artists

The OHIO Center for Entrepreneurship and The Bobcat Seed Fund announce up to $500 in grant funding for Arts Launch, a new pitch competition for student artists held directly after the January 26 summit at the CoLab in Alden Library. Applications can be submitted online by Jan. 20 at this website. After completing the application, the student-led Investment Committee will evaluate the proposal, invite the top applicants to present their project for two to three minutes between 5:30-7:30 p.m., and decide whether to award the grant. 

These grants, paid as reimbursements, can be used to design, build, create, perform, or otherwise do your craft while practicing entrepreneurship. 

“These grants exist to support budding artists to pursue their dreams because we know development on a student budget can be challenging,” said Bobcat Seed Fund Manager and OHIO student Deborah Okai. 

The Bobcat Seed Fund promotes an entrepreneurial environment on campus by supporting budding entrepreneurs to take their ideas and businesses to the next level. The fund does this by providing grants in varying amounts to build prototypes, pursue intellectual property, conduct customer validation, and much more. Funds are not meant to be paid back and exist with the solitary purpose of supporting student entrepreneurs from all walks of life. 

“The Bobcat Seed Fund grants demonstrate that we care about entrepreneurs and support them with no strings attached,” Okai said.

Student artists interested in applying for Arts Launch funding and have questions about the application, process, or have other concerns, can contact Krystal Geyer, krystal@ohio.edu at the OHIO Center for Entrepreneurship.

OAS contacts:

• Kelee Riesbeck, OAS co-chair, executive director, Arts Partnerships and Programs, College of Fine Arts, riesbek1@ohio.edu  
• Paul Benedict, OAS co-chair, professor of instruction and director, OHIO Center for Entrepreneurship, benedict@ohio.edu 
• Christopher Fisher, OAS co-chair, professor of piano and co-chair of the Keyboard Division, School of Music, College of Fine Arts, fisherc@ohio.edu