Formerly known as the Creative Arts Competition, the program equips a cohort of teams with mentors, classes, and workshops to hone their products, business models, and pitches and compete for a $15,000 prize to launch.
Running from January through April 2025, selected teams are part of a cohort program designed to accelerate arts-focused ventures. Participants receive seed funding and 1:1 mentorship from industry experts, including distinguished faculty, alumni, and creative entrepreneurs as well as access to exclusive workshops that help hone their business models, develop prototypes, and prepare to pitch.
On April 24, 2025, the finalist teams pitched their ventures to a live panel of judges to compete for the $15,000 grand prize.
Congratulations to the 2025 First Prize Winner: CRATE
From music platforms to gallery management tools, ten semifinalist teams received mentorship from industry experts as they developed their arts-based ventures. CRATE, a B2B platform that enables gallery owners to better forecast costs before making business decisions, claimed the $15,000 top prize, with four other finalist teams each receiving $2,500 in seed funding
