NUvention: Arts 2020
NUvention: Arts (ENTREP 476) targets students from across Northwestern with a passion for the arts. Our hope is to facilitate the creation, innovation, and organization of new ideas and companies in the field of creative arts. The goal of this course is to help students understand that success in the arts is a function of passion, work ethic, talent, and entrepreneurial drive.
In the past twenty years, digital disruption has upended many industries including the music, film, and television, and has erased most of the barriers to entry in those industries. Furthermore, the transparency of the Internet has shifted the power from large corporations to anyone who has a great idea, talent, and Internet connectivity. Digital technology allows artists to have greater control over their careers and enables entrepreneurs to create new companies that disrupt the traditional way of doing things.
In this unique virtual Spring 2020 quarter, Professor Gregg Latterman brought in a variety of guest speakers from all over the world, including The Fray's Isaac Slade. Teams formed companies this quarter that included:
Twiddl Tales: an online platform for writers to get quality feedback easily and free, which simplifies the process of producing high-quality content, making it enjoyable and collaborative
2LUNAR: a uniquely agile creative agency that serves music, fashion, art, and culture brands in the development, strategy, and executive of marketing campaigns and products. 2LUNAR’s team is composed of professional polymaths, fluent in both creative and technical disciplines.
Sol Studios: an affordable, professional-quality studio and community space.
JAJ: An influential idol training and management company, specifically targeting the market of Chinese talents in America.
M&M Collective: A platform centered around helping womxn in creative industries, specifically in music & film, to better navigate an entry into the market and help their projects gain exposure.
J&A Book Marketing Agency: An agency that provides highly personalized integrated marketing consulting to independent authors who want to increase their book sales potential.
OUTings: The new LGBTQ+ Lifestyle app that allows for the development of genuine connections in a safe, positive, and open environment that matches users based on common interests, not on an individual level based on physical attraction.
Creative Arts And Me (CAAM): an online startup, based in Chicago, specializing in therapeutic arts. Users find creative arts classes that are perfect for their context.
CONCEPT.io: full-service events platform that enables business owners to conceive an event, book the relevant performing arts talent, find marketing partners/sponsors and then promote and ticket and ticket it on a turnkey basis to audiences.
The Rundown:
An ecommerce platform that uses machine learning to database sizes and provides you with your appropriate size, augmented reality technology to try and style your own outfits, and a flexible return policy in order to remove any judgment or hassle from the returns process.
Throughline Productions: A nonprofit film production company dedicated to delivering a powerful way to gain new filmmakers entrance into the industry.
Art for All: Providing funding for underfunded schools with an after-school arts curriculum.
Stage Left Brain: A platform that offers business classes for the performing arts, ranging from essential business classes as well as specific topics related to life as a performer.
Food for Thought: An app whose goal is to eliminate food waste by focusing on pairing restaurants, grocery stories, and eateries with end users with leftover prepared food.
V.C.R.: A B2B media startup that specializes in reproducing copyrighted original content.