Organization showcases arts and entrepreneurial partnerships
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is on the forefront of entrepreneurship, supporting and encouraging students to take charge of their careers, often through non-traditional paths. The Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration‘s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation have partnered to join Arts Enterprise, a national group dedicated to emerging leaders who blend arts and business to create careers through entrepreneurial and artistic creativity.
“Artists and entrepreneurs don’t fear the future – they make it,” said Conservatory Dean Peter Witte. “Through Arts Enterprise, students from the Bloch School’s nationally-recognized Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Conservatory of Music and Dance will launch their own careers. This partnership builds on UMKC’s distinctive strengths in entrepreneurship and the arts, and engages our students in a national movement. Kansas City’s own Charlie Parker said it best, ‘If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.’”
Dr. Teng-Kee Tan, Dean of The Bloch School of Business and Public Administration said this endeavor exemplifies how “UMKC is helping drive entrepreneurship in Kansas City, and the Bloch School is pleased to collaborate with the Conservatory in delivering an entrepreneurial ecosystem which enables students to live their dreams.”
Working under the guiding values of leadership, service, collaboration, imagination and opportunity, UMKC’s chapter will encourage students to engage in interdisciplinary endeavors that will place them in advantageous situations. Workshops on negotiating contracts, networking and marketing are some of the ideas the chapter is working on according to Erika Kinser, Conservatory student and the AE student leader.
“AE is student-driven and action-based,” Kinser said. “Its core focus is to help students bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world.”
To that end, Dr. Michael Song, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation said, “We look forward to working with Arts Enterprise to nurture a new generation of student entrepreneurs in the arts.”
The launching event for UMKC’s Arts Enterprise chapter will take place from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, November 13 in the University Center, 5000 Rockhill Rd., Kansas City, Mo. The nationally-known Conservatory jazz group Diverse will play at the free event. According to Kinser, AE has already helped Diverse with their CD launch party and with an upper Midwest tour.
For information about membership, please contact Erika Kinser; AEumkc@gmail.com; or find “Arts Enterprise UMKC” on Facebook.
About the Conservatory
The UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance has earned national and international recognition through its music and dance performance, composition, teaching and scholarship. The most comprehensive music and dance educational center in the Midwest since 1906, the Conservatory boasts more than 80 faculty widely recognized as world-class scholars, artists, teachers and leaders in their fields.
About the Bloch School and the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration prepares entrepreneurial and innovative leaders to meet the demands of a changing world and advances knowledge and practice through excellent teaching, scholarship, outreach and service. Bloch has built programs that are garnering national recognition through rankings, as well as enthusiastic local support, including the Executive MBA (founded in 1995), the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (founded in 2005) and the Lewis White Real Estate Center (founded in 2007).
About UMKC
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience.