By Poorvi Nair
Ensemble: bringing concerts to your home
Creative Connect: Providing a platform for upcoming talent
The Seen: An App that lets you see all the events happening around you, and who’s going to it
These were a few of the amazing start-up ideas that came out of the NuVention: Arts course this past Spring Quarter. Taught by the renowned Greg Latterman from the Kellogg School of Management, the NuVention Arts course gives students the opportunity to learn the skills required to build and pitch their start-up ideas to mentors active in the arts industries.
From development, to crowd-funding videos, to a final pitch presentation- students went through the start-up development process in its entirety during the course. Through it all students gained useful advice, feedback, and network building opportunities from professionals in different walks of the creative industries
Although offered as an elective in the MSLCE program, the NuVention class was also open to students from different schools and class standings at Northwestern. This included students from the Kellogg School of Management, Medill, and several other undergraduate majors as well. This composition bolstered the real-world experience of working with people from different professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds, and hence, offered multiple perspectives and skill sets that aided in building a creative start-up idea.
The class itself provided an array of skillsets to be learned from the students as well. When asked what she gained and liked most out of the class, MSLCE student Saba Ottman, the recent Senior Talent Coordinator for the School of Communication’s CommFest, said that “The class reaffirmed that I enjoy collaborating with creatives. The opportunity to network with entrepreneurs that are industry experts is invaluable and helped make my network even richer.” Other MSLCE Students, such as Muyiwa Oyatogun and Maethinee Teosakul found learning the entrepreneurial process of creating a company to be extremely helpful. Teosakul even said it helped her determine a career alternative, one which she might even pursue right out of the MSLCE program.
The quarter ended on a high with some brilliant ideas emerging out of the class. One of the teams has already pitched their idea and been picked up by an external investor in the Chicago area. The NuVention courses give students an opportunity to learn the entrepreneurship process, with a practical implementation of the tools, skills, and advice they learn theoretically throughout the course.
(Photo by the Farley Center; Spring 2017 NuVention Arts Course)