According to the general notion, ‘entrepreneurship’ is about taking up an idea and processing it into a business venture. But in the Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design, entrepreneurship is more about channelling your creativity into your aim of starting the business. Dean Xavier Costa explains the exact same thing and mentions that he likes the students to engage in creative nature of thinking and “to take risks and approach entrepreneurship as a way to approach their creativity.”
The college, to encourage the students, recently presented its inaugural batch of Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards who took up leadership roles to develop their projects in arts. One of the award winners was Marie Sullivan, a senior in communication studies. Another was Kate Downey. She was awarded for her success behind being the founder of a theatre company which produces new versions of Shakespeare’s plays. With Downey, Ian Gasco – Wiggin also received the award for designing a new community space for Nueva Esperanza, which is a non-profit organisation in Holoke, Mass. He ended up creating an environment comprising of café, bookstore, and a community art wall. The experience shared by these award winners in their entrepreneurship contributed to their leadership skills and improved their creative ability.
The experience of working on field and not restricting themselves to the four walls of the classroom itself elated them to their achievements. “Being able to get out of my comfort zone while making this film really let me learn a lot about myself along the way” said Sullivan. Downey’s experience, after participating in the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Summer Apprentice Program, taught her a lesson of perseverance.
It is the initiative of the college that helped the students of the Northeastern University to venture out on their own. The confidence, the depth of creativity, and exclusive leadership skills were learnt when they decided and attempted to fall out of the comfort of limited knowledge of their classroom.
Akshara Palshetkar