The Daily Tar Heel

Issue date: 1/15/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: DTH/Ben Pierce Instructor Greg Hohn listens to Debbie Randolph in an innovative course designed to bridge the gap between art and business practices.

Cupcakes led Kelley Gill to enroll in UNC's first artistic entrepreneurship course - BUSI 509.

After baking vegan, gluten-free and special-diet cupcakes for fun, Gill said she realized the demand for these types of desserts in the community.

Before long, she had requests flowing in for custom-designed cupcakes, and she decided to start a business out of it. But her business knowledge was limited.

"I decided 2008 was the year to focus on the business side," Gill said. "I've done a lot with the arts side, but I want to learn more about how to set up a business."

This spring, UNC opened two classes - one for graduate students and one for undergraduates - on artistic entrepreneurship, making it one of the first schools in the country to offer this type of course.

The undergraduate course is an introductory class to the new arts entrepreneurship track for entrepreneurship minors. The graduate student course allows students to have a concentration in the artistic field while earning a certificate in entrepreneurship.

"A lot of times students pursue passions that they don't know how they will use after college," said Raymond Farrow, executive director of the Kenan-Flagler Business School. "People give up passions because they need to make a living. Entrepreneurship can teach you to take what you care most deeply about and develop it into a business."

Patrick Vernon, associate director of the business school, and lecturer Greg Hohn will spearhead the graduate course, which focuses on the practical parts of business, but also discusses the risk, the measure of success and exploitation of creativity.

"One of the things about artists and entrepreneurs is that the most successful ones have to blaze their own trail," Hohn said.

"And that's a really heavy thing to approach - to have to create your own path rather than follow someone else's."

Fortune Small Business Magazine named the Kenan-Flagler Business School one of the top 25 schools in the country for entrepreneurship and one of the best schools in America for double majors, noting the school's incorporation of the artistic and commercial fields. The magazine also recognized the school as one of the best for entrepreneurs seeking a graduate degree.

Vernon and Hohn said they plan to wait until they get a sense of the students' interests before selecting books and guest speakers.

"I think that the exciting thing about this is that we're in the process of defining it," Hohn said.

"It's not like we're teaching a Shakespeare course. We have experience to draw on, but it's not like there is a huge amount of resources to go to."



Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools