Are you about to graduate from the UNCSA college program? Do you have an idea for a creative business or a creative project that you wish to develop and are seeking funding to help make your idea a reality? We invite you to apply for an Artpreneur Grant for Graduating College Students, and we’ll help you along the way with faculty mentors in your arts school and in the Division of Liberal Arts. Five grants are available for $2,500 each.

UNCSA defines an Artpreneur as an artist who reaches beyond existing disciplines, technologies, constructs and processes to effect change they wish to see in the world, through their creative practice.

Application Period Begins: Monday, January 17, 2022, 9 a.m. (ET)
Application Deadline: Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 9 a.m. (ET)

The Artpreneur Initiative is administered and supported by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, with additional support from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust and Margaret Scales and Graydon Pleasants. For more information, email Erin Edge at artpreneur@uncsa.edu(opens in new tab).

Requirements

• Applicants must be currently enrolled full-time in a UNCSA undergraduate, graduate or certificate program and have applied and are on track to graduate in May 2022.
• Complete five short Canvas webinars
• Complete online application
• A basic budget with projected expenses and revenue (contributed/earned/in-kind)
• Two Letters of Recommendation from individuals familiar with the applicant’s artistic work. One letter must come from a UNCSA faculty or staff member; the other can be an external source.

Grant Awards

Artpreneur grant funding may be spent on expenses directly attributable to the development of a creative enterprise or project. Recipients will receive their funding shortly after graduation, and will have one year to get their creative enterprise or creative project up and running.

Examples of eligible expenses:

• Artist fees
• Venue costs
• Discipline-specific equipment or software 
• Professional services

Examples of ineligible expenses:

• General expenses of transitioning from college to career
• Personal living expenses (rent, transportation, food)
• Career development expenses (headshots, classes, etc.)
• Student loan repayments

For more information, email Erin Edge at artpreneur@uncsa.edu.