ARTup Boot Camp takes art from concept to creation

Transitioning from someone who makes art to someone who sells art can be difficult, which is why UB’s Startup and Innovation Collaboratory powered by Blackstone LaunchPad  (The CoLab) and the Center for the Arts (CFA) are working together to present ARTup Boot Camp, a one-day event designed to teach students how to take any idea from concept to creation.

ARTup Boot Camp will take place from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in the Black Box Theatre in the CFA. Register by Sept. 29. 

According to Kelsey Wagner, entrepreneurial training coordinator for The CoLab, boot camp participants will learn how to market their ideas, identify potential problems, get to know their audience better and make mentor connections. 

“These are all skills I wish I had gained before graduating college, but those supports weren’t there for me. So, I saw a real opportunity to offer those supports to UB students with interests like mine, and ARTup Boot Camp was born,” Wagner explains.

The CoLab is a campus-based entrepreneurship and innovation center that empowers students to realize solutions for the global and local challenges of our time. Part startup incubator and part idea-sharing center, The CoLab connects students to mentors, events, funding and experiences that cultivate the skills and mindset to build successful companies or innovate competitively in careers within any organization.

Wagner, who has a background in the creative arts, says she immediately recognized that the skills being taught during The CoLab’s Startup Week were skills art students would find useful as well.

“Students who attend ARTup Boot Camp can expect a fun day of meeting both peers and local community leaders,” she says. “We’ll walk everyone through this all-inclusive event together — no previous experience required. We’re giving all attendees some swag, food and $10 campus cash just for attending, and three lucky teams will take home up to $1,500 cash prizes.”

“As a place where art is made and experienced, CFA is the ideal host for this event. We’re delighted to offer our students a variety of experiential learning opportunities with people who make their living in the visual and performing arts, while providing them with the essential tools for future success," says Jamie Enser, CFA executive director.

The event is open to all students — graduate and undergraduate, from any academic discipline — who are interested in creating or performing music, visual arts, dance or writing. Three teams of students will take home up to $1,500 cash for their next project.