Entrepreneurship and Professional Practice
ArtCenter is the perfect place to start something new.
Entrepreneurship and Professional Practice (EPP) prepares students and alumni with skills and networks to launch and build businesses. By connecting the needs of startups, independent studios, companies and organizations across sizes and disciplines, EPP seeks to equip artists and designers for a wide range of leadership paths and professional outcomes spanning business, innovation and the creative economy.
This focus on business acumen complements the creative vision of our community, enhancing opportunities for ArtCenter students and alumni to pursue internal routes in traditional corporations as “intrapreneurs” alongside starting companies of their own. This pioneering approach to education—focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation—creates pathways for students and alumni to collaborate with doctors, scientists, engineers, researchers, investors and trailblazers across sectors to improve outcomes for humans and the environment.
Core Entrepreneurship Programs
BOLD: Business and Entrepreneurship
Symposia, seminars and workshops, providing inspiration, practical guidance and networking opportunities across the business and startup ecosystem.
Business Minor
Offered by our Humanities and Sciences Department, a Business minor provides immersion in the language and strategy of business, supports the development of creative entrepreneurship and offers a creative perspective on real world business solutions.
Counseling and Mentorship
Individual strategy sessions to help students and alumni develop professional networks and build plans to fulfill their career goals.
INSEAD
A cohort of design students from ArtCenter’s Pasadena campus regularly spend a term abroad, taking MBA-level business courses at one of INSEAD’s international campuses in France and Singapore.
Launch Lab
A capstone accelerator program propelling graduating entrepreneurs with practical resources and network to launch, fund and grow startups and new business ventures.
Launch Prep
A mid-degree class preparing aspiring entrepreneurs and inventors to form teams and pursue startup and venture capital beyond the classroom.
Legal Resources
Efforts to connect students and alumni with legal experts in intellectual property, copyright, trademarks and other ownership issues as they build a creative practice.
Social Entrepreneurship
In collaboration with Designmatters, programs that support individuals, groups, start-up companies and entrepreneurs as they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural or environmental issues.
Shield Makers: Product Design Students Help Create Face Shields for Frontline Medical Workers
