History

ARTS ENTERPRISE BEGAN in 2006 as a student organization on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus as a collaboration between students at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the Ross School of Business.  These students sought to find a way for entrepreneurial, multi-talented students to collaborate on issues such as nurturing the creativity of business majors and developing the entrepreneurial skills of arts majors.  In its first year AE, established a student board, raised $25K for projects, and launched its first AE Week with arts consultant Eric Booth as the keynote speaker and facilitator.  Since then, AE has grown to seven student chapters and has helped its leaders begin exciting careers in the creative workforce.  Since 2009 our national umbrella organization has served to link our campus chapters, maximizing their potential by leveraging the ideas and creative activity of our individual members.   

ARTS ENTERPRISE HAS DEVELOPED a replicable and sustainable model that fills curricular voids in arts and business  programs across the country.  The impact is remarkable; our students graduate not only with their degrees, but with advanced skills in leadership, project management, and teamwork skills.  AE members are sought after in the workforce by some of the most admired for- and non-profit organizations in the U.S.  Through the AE model, our members have created new business and social ventures, and they have organized over 150 programs ranging from business and arts leadership activities to service-learning projects and sustainable educational programs. The rapid growth of chapters (currently 80%+ over the last three years) across the US continues to demonstrate the desire for the AE approach.  With the expertise we have in place and the enthusiasm of the current members, we are quickly growing the number of AE chapters and effectively building a network of creative student entrepreneurs across the country.

AE is unique among a growing number of arts entrepreneurship initiatives because we focus our efforts on creating a scalable network that connects a variety of professional programs, rather than serving a single campus or constituency. We are a grassroots initiative that promotes experiential learning and creative problem-solving skills to build student leaders who positively impact the human condition.