Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology as an Academic Discipline

Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology as an Academic Discipline

http://artsentrepreneurship.com http://herosjourneyentrepreneurship.org

by Dr. Elliot McGucken

Universities, founded as entrepreneurial institutions that would help create the new, no longer are. Bureaucracy has set in. Universities have forgotten, or, worse, repudiated the entrepreneurial imperative that created the fortunes that allowed their benefactors to start them in the first place. –The Entrepreneurial Imperative, by Carl J. Schramm

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control. –Martin Luther King Jr.

For better or worse, my youthful idealism—the belief that any truly sound business endeavor must be built on a strong moral foundation—still remains today, at least as strong a it was all those years ago. --John C. Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group

Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology seeks to serve students, artists, and entrepreneurs with the tools to make their passions their professions—to protect and profit from their ideas—to take ownership in their creations and careers. For Adam Smith's invisible hand enriches all when happiness is pursued by artists and innovators—society's natural founts of wealth. Jefferson eloquently expressed the entrepreneurial premise:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. –The Declaration of Independence

The only clause in the main body of the United States Constitution that mentions "Rights" states the following:

The Congress shall have power to . . . promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; --The United States Constitution



Couple these two passages together, and one has the moral premise of Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology. Every student ought be given the tools to create new ventures--to protect their intellectual property, and to pursue and profit from their dreams on their "Hero's Journey" into entrepreneurship. For it is along that journey that the long-term "wealth of nations" is generated.

Entrepreneurship has aspects of art--creation and the pursuit of higher aesthetics; and science--economics, finance, engineering, and physical invention. How these aspects, and many more--from intellectual property to corporate structures--combine to generate wealth, are part of an Epic Story that is told whenever an individual sets out to render their ideals and dreams real. Thus a most efficient way to study entrepreneurship--to unite its diverse aspects--is via Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey.



"The (AE&T) class is the first of its kind to incorporate art, technology and business." –Chapel Hill Herald, May 2006



As a new cornerstone in a classical liberal arts education, Artistic Entrepreneurship is for those seeking to make their passions their professions. This festival is dedicated to all those embarking on the "Hero's Journey" to create enduring wealth, be it a new venture, video game, indie film, record label, book, DRM system serving artists and musicians, or course.

The Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology program aims to create lasting resources serving students and professors with curriculums devoted to entrepreneurship. By marrying the study of entrepreneurship and pursuit of entrepreneurial visions to the “hero’s journey,” both a lasting skeleton and soul is given to the academic field of entrepreneurship.

By focusing on the unchanging precepts and common laws that entrepreneurship across all disciplines has in common, AE&T seeks to create an academic discipline rooted in higher principles, and brought to life each and every semester on the cutting edge of innovation found within the students’ projects.

All students encounter Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, The Odyssey, and John Bogle’s Battle for The Soul of Capitalism on the first day of class. Right there the class reaches out across all disciplines and across thousands of years, exalting the students by reminding them that they are part of a great story—an epic that they get to write. And by taking ownership in one’s life, in one’s destiny while seeking to serve both higher ideals and one’s peers, so often it is that wealth is created—both monetary and spiritual.

The various stages outlined in Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey make an ideal backbone for a semester’s syllabus devoted to entrepreneurship, and The Hero With a Thousand Faces makes an ideal companion, guide, and mentor for the rest of the students’ lives. Arts entrepreneurship sees the classical liberal arts as a most useful tool, and it invites all students to partake in the fellowship of the living story.



Serving Student Demand

Students long for a cross-disciplinary field of study that leapfrogs over the bureaucracy that all too often marks ever-narrowing academic fields, where semblance replaces soul, formalities are substituted for deeper meanings, and the letter of the law is held superior to the spirit of the law. Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology unites the formerly disparate academic fields of business, law, art, and technology in a living, breathing class, endowing the subject matter with a spirit and soul, and granting entrepreneurship and enduring mythology. For we are born to live out stories—not to serve bureaucracies as academia all too often focuses upon teaching.

A vast demand exists for the classical ideals performed in the contemporary context—for honor, integrity, courage, and committment—on Wall Street and Main Street, in Hollywood and the Heartland, in Academia and Government. And thus opportunity abounds for entrepreneurs who keep the higher ideals above the bottom line—for humble heroes in all walks of life.

Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology aims to be a most useful field of study for students, teachers, and anyone starting or launching a venture related to any field of study. The same classical values guiding the rising artistic renaissance will protect the artists' intellectual property. The immortal ideals which guide the story of blockbuster books and movies such as The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars, are the very same ideals underlying the United States Constitution. These classic ideals--which pervade Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, and the Bible--are the source of both epic story and property rights, of law and business, of academia and civilization.

It is great to witness classical ideals performed in Middle Earth, upon the Scottish Highlands, long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, and in Narnia, but too, such ideals must be perpetually performed in the contemporary context and living language.

The digital media revolution has collapsed the distance between art, business, law, and media technology programs, and students are longing for those general permanent principles found within the pages of the Great Books. In many ways, an AE&T program founded upon the classics, would become a flagship in reviving the lost art of the liberal arts education.

Throughout the greater culture, there exists a longing for contemporary heroes and heroines in literature reflecting those brave men and women wearing uniforms in real life--there exists a longing for epic stories in our books, movies, and video games, and for digital rights management software and systems based on the Founding Fathers' idealism. And thus there exist vast opportunities for rugged artistic entrepreneurs to lead renaissances on all fronts.

For a time many have been tempted to forget classical ideals, valuing short-term profits over long-term wealth, exalting the bottom line over the higher ideals; but the nascent brilliance of the technological revolutions can only achieve its fuller potential via Story. While many will suggest that the best solution to digital rights management is to remove story from movies--as Hollywood has dedicated itself to as of late--thusly removing incentive to pirate them, I counter that classical ideals can enhance both the storytelling within movies and the DRM that protects them.

Just as the Founding Fathers complimented property rights by providing everyone with the right to bear arms, a novel software system that provides all creators with a turnkey choice from a full spectrum of digital rights management would foster a renaissance in the creation and distribution of intellectual property and art. The name of this software is the 45 Revolver, and the killer app could lead next-generation social networks and content portals that would benefit Hollywood.from the indie filmmakers to the major studios. Let's build it. Let's build tomorrow's ecommerce portals—tomorrow's books, movies, video games, and culture—upon classical ideals.

That distant wave has been a long time coming, and the new fashions will be about performing the classical ideals in the contemporary context. The rising generation will lead a renaissance in storytelling; a renaissance in the composition, production, and distribution of art—a renaissance in business, culture, and civilization—in academia and entrepreneurship. For that is the artistic entrepreneur's duty.

John Bogle, who founded Vanguard—the world's largest and most-trusted mutual fund—upon the idealism of his senior thesis at Princeton University, writes:

Let's begin with Franklin's entrepreneurship. It was not only remarkable for his era; it was remarkable for any era. While in today's grandiose era of capitalism the word "entrepreneur" has come to be commonly associated with those who are motivated to create new enterprises largely by the desire for personal wealth or even greed, the fact is that entrepreneur simply means "one who undertakes an enterprise," a person who founds and directs an organization. But at its best, entrepreneurship entails something far more important than mere money. Please do not take my word for it. Heed the words of the great Joseph Schumpeter, the first economist to recognize entrepreneurship as the vital force that drives economic growth. In his Theory of Economic Development, written nearly a century ago, Schumpeter dismissed material and monetary gain as the prime mover of the entrepreneur, finding motivations like these to be far more powerful: (1) "The joy of creating, of getting things done, of simply exercising one's energy and ingenuity," and (2) "The will to conquer: the impulse to fight, . . . to succeed for the sake, not of the fruits of success, but of success itself. –John C. Bogle, Capitalism, Entrepreneurship, and Investing. The 18th Century vs. the 21st Century Remarks by John C. Bogle Founder and Former Chairman, The Vanguard Group



The Small Liberal Arts University as a Major Research Institution

Dr. Elliot McGucken’s AE&T Research/Books/Patents

“Our business schools have the chance to take the lead in shaping the future. But they will need to change radically to do so.” –Carl J. Schramm, The Entrepreneurial Imperative



Not only has the digital revolution empowered the individual and small business, but it has also empowered small universities and classical liberal arts institutions. No longer are multi-million-dollar labs and vast buildings needed to foster innovation and encourage student entrepreneurship, but simple access to digital tools and the web can provide students with a solid entrepreneurial foundation. Thus Dr. E’s class was able to build wikientrepreneur.org using the same software that powers the world’s largest encyclopedia—wikimedia.

This past year, as he honed his AE&T book due out in 2007, Dr. Elliot McGucken filed one provisional and three final patent applications—three for rights management systems for artists and creators. Here are the final applications’ titles and abstracts:



SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTENT MARKETPLACE, DRM MARKETPLACE, DISTRIBUTION MARKETPLACE, AND SEARCH ENGINE: THE DODGE CITY MARKETPLACE AND SEARCH ENGINE

The present invention offers novel and superior means for creating a content marketplace. The present invention allows technology companies to compete to meet and serve the creators’ rights. Just as reverse auction systems allow consumers to name their price, with service providers competing to meet the price, the present invention allows artists, creators, and content owners to define their rights, whereupon content aggregators, record labels, social networks, DRM providers, device manufacturers, search engines, and others compete to bets meet the creators’ needs. This innovation reflects the fact while technology companies are commodities, and thus artists ought declare their independence, and ascend to their natural place in the universe—those who take the risks and create the wealth on their Heroes’ Journeys ought reap the rewards. The Dodge City Marketplace will lead to greater revenue and rights for artists, superior search engines, distribution, and art, and trusted standards for DRM.



22NETS: METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR BUILDING CONTENT AND TALENT MARKETPLACES AND ARCHIVES BASED ON A SOCIAL NETWORK

The novel social network described herein allows those who create and upload content, as well as those who aggregate content and build the network, to profit in novel manners. A method and system allows users, who create content archives and marketplaces in which individuals and content in the database are connected by mutually defined relationships determined by the content creators/owners, uploaders, aggregators, and/or viewers of said content, to better profit from the networks they build. Higher-quality archives and marketplaces result. A tiered commission system, proportional to the degrees of separation in the network, provides a revenue share for creators and viewers who participate in and create content and/or marketplaces. Information inherent within the nodes is mined so as to afford a tiered revenue-sharing system. An improved method of content distribution empowering creators of content and participants is disclosed herein, along with a superior social network.



SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOWING CREATORS, ARTSISTS, AND OWNERS TO PROTECT AND PROFIT FROM CONTENT: THE 45 REVOLVER

The present invention offers novel and superior means for protecting and profiting from digital content. The rights-centric, creator-centric digital rights management application will lead to greater revenue and rights for artists, and a new era of creator's entrepreneurship, as opposed to the dominant aggregator's entrepreneurship. The present invention offers a simple interface for creators, artists, users, and owners to define rights, select from a plurality of DRM options, advertising options, watermarking options, thumbnailing options, syndication options, and publish, share, sell, and distribute their content in a plurality of manners. This invention has far-ranging ramifications, as it causes DRM providers, device manufacturers, web companies, social networks, and content marketplaces to more directly compete with one-another to provide the creator and content owner the best compensation for their work. Creators can bypass the traditional and new middlemen, define their rights, sell their content, and enhance profits.



MORALITY SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO GAME: SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING STORY, DEEPER MEANING AND EMOTIONS, ENHANCED CHARACTERS AND AI, AND DRAMATIC ART IN VIDEO GAMES

This present invention pertains to introducing morality and epic storytelling into the realm of video games, resulting in video games with superior, deeper game play, expanded markets, and longer-lasting brands. The ability to render deeper emotion, story, and exalted dramatic arts within the realm of video games has been a long sought-after “holy grail” throughout the video game industry. The prior art demonstrates how others have failed and are failing to deliver more meaningful and engaging games endowed with epic storytelling. This present invention provides the missing key to realizing epic storytelling, deeper emotional involvement, and higher art in video games.



Teaching and research are inseparable, and the patent topics, the process of patenting, and the basics of intellectual property are all brought forth in the living context of the classroom. When Dr. E worked on an artificial retina for the blind, it continually aided in physics class—as a practical application, it was an inspirational tool to inspire the students to learn something. And now, the research in patents in video games, social networks, and digital rights management are continually incorporated in the AE&T class.

The beauty of Einstein’s research was that its end results could always be communicated in simple equations and geometrical pictures. The beauty of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution is that they may be readily understood, and read in their entirety in a few hours. Too much modern academia as sacrificed clarity for pretended profundity, for what Nietzsche described as “muddying my waters so as to appear deeper.”

As entrepreneurship is rooted in providing useful, tangible results, it continually exhorts education to teach practical, useful entities; and it encourages professors to join the students in every class as everyone vigorously pursues their ventures. The humble Hero’s Journey unites us all, but just as the Knights of The Round Table, each must find their own unique path through the forest.

The most eloquent expressions of entrepreneurship’s precepts—of the ubiquitous Hero’s Journey that cuts across all cultures and all time—are the Great Books and Classics—from The Odyssey on down. So it is that a classical liberal arts education is a most useful entity, as John C. Bogle, the creator of the world’s largest mutual fund, demonstrated.

The proper role of intellectual property transfer departments should be to give inventors and innovators the tools to protect and profit from their creations. AE&T’s spirit sees creation as the magical act, and the creator as the rightful, natural, and primary owner; and thus it become the MBA’s and JD’s duty to serve the innovator—not to take the innovator’s private property, but to communicate the tools necessary to take the innovation to market. AE&T aims to dispel the myth that it is one type of person suited to creating and another type of person suited to owning, by giving all students the fundamental tools to protect and profit from their creations—to embark on their very own hero’s journeys.

AE&T supports an IP transfer protocol modeled off of Stanford’s “hands off” approach to technology transfer. The duty of IP departments ought to be to serve the inventor and creator with the knowledge they need to protect and profit from their invention. When the creator benefits, they are inspired to keep on creating; and thus it is important to address the rights and interests of innovators and inventors, for they are society’s natural founts of wealth.

And so it is that Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology seeks to give students, artists, and entrepreneurs the tools to make their passions their professions—to protect and profit from their ideas—to take ownership in their careers and creations. For Adam Smith's invisible hand enriches all when happiness is pursued by artists and innovators—society's natural founts of wealth.

Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology in the Press

Business Week Online reported

Where Entrepreneurship Connects to the Classics

Elliot McGucken, a professor of entrepreneurship at Pepperdine University, bemoans that "a lot of schools have dismissed the idea of teaching the great books." In a recent lecture at Pepperdine, McGucken points out that that one lesson of the classics is, "Chance favors the prepared mind.. Instead of viewing risk as a bad thing, we can also view it as a good thing." The classics inspired America's Declaration of Independence, which McGucken sees as an entrepreneurial document. Life has a way of "calling us to adventure," he concludes. Though many entrepreneurs launch businesses based on some "whimsical occurrence," it's their educational and life backgrounds that enable them to recognize the opportunity. Thus, John Bogle was able to found Vanguard based on a business-magazine article, while actually pursuing a "higher ideal" associated with making stock ownership available to large numbers of people. See this blog for more information and a related video. --BusinessWeek Online http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2007/sb20070305_370422.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_getting+started



From Beethoven to Bob Dylan

"Every artist is an entrepreneur." So argues Dr. Elliot McGucken, a visiting professor at Pepperdine University, in an online video introduction to his course, Art Entrepreneurship & Technology 101, which has the professor lecturing from the shore of a small lake. Among his suggestions for artists who want to be more entrepreneurial: launch a blog (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/18/06, "The ABCs of Beginning Your Blog", prepare a one-minute presentation on "your mission," write a 20-page business plan, and be prepared to work for a long time "for free." For information on courses in entrepreneurship geared toward artists, take a look at http://www.ae2n.net. It's still in its formative stages but eventually will feature reading lists and course evaluations. –BusinessWeek Online http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2006/sb20061002_056758.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_getting+started



Former investment CEO discusses moral capitalism

JAIMIE FRANKLIN

Assistant News Editor

http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-01-bogle.htm

Pepperdine welcomed investment giant John C. Bogle to campus Tuesday evening as the keynote speaker for National Entrepreneurship Week USA. Bogle spoke on how businesses have abandoned true ethics and the importance of classical values and a liberal education in the today’s world and attested to his humble beginnings and how they shaped his life to come.

As founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group, the second largest mutual fund company in the world, Bogle was recognized as one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people by TIME Magazine in 2004. He was also hailed as one of the investment industry’s four “Giants of the 20th Century” by Fortune magazine in 1999.

Dr. Elliot McGucken organized the event. McGucken teaches a class in artistic entrepreneurship in which Bogle’s 2005 book, “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism,” is required reading alongside Homer’s “Odyssey.”

The theme of a hero’s journey, therefore, permeated Bogle’s presentation.

“Classical precepts are the most useful tools throughout life,” McGucken said. “Ideals are a great a long-term investment, because they never change.”

Bogle reached out to students, urging them to pursue an education and to become a citizen characterized by ethics and ideals.

“Dream, but act too,” Bogle said. “You have nearly all of your own odyssey before you… if you are truly strong in will to strive, seek, find, and not to yield.”

Many students found the presentation to be valuable and could relate to Bogle’s assessment of the business world.

“I thought it was pretty interesting, especially with the moral aspect to see such a wealthy man and how he founded his business,” said freshman Maurice Collins.

Freshman Kamron King agreed.

“To see his humble beginnings makes acquiring that much wealth seem tangible,” King said.

Events will come to a close Saturday with an online lecture by McGucken. Entrepreneurship Week USA is a nation-wide event established by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and sponsored by The New York Times and Inc. magazine. --http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-01-bogle.htm



Festival to promote business creativity

RICHARD NAVA

Staff Writer , the Graphic:

http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-29-festival.htm

The excitement of the epics of the past can be utilized to promote creativity and entrepreneurship, according to the organizers of the first Hero’s Journey Entrepreneurship Festival, held Saturday.

Seaver College will host the event at the Pepperdine School of Law.

The festival will include several professionals in the arts and humanities field including Flint Dille and John Zuur of the award winning “Chronicles of Riddick” and David Whatley, the CEO of Simutronics. The festival will also include a keynote speech by William Fay, who is the executive producer of films such as “The Patriot,” “Superman Returns” and the current blockbuster movie “300.”

“The Hero’s Journey Entrepreneurship Festival seeks to give students, artists and entrepreneurs the tools to make their passions their professions,” said Dr. Elliot McGucken, visiting professor of business. “The rising generation is longing for epic story across all mediums.”

McGucken’s growing popularity is clearly visible not only in his students, but also fellow members of the Pepperdine staff and faculty. Vice Chancellor Michael Warder, for example, said the concept of spreading entrepreneurship and business to artists of all types is part of McGucken’s genius.

“I think he speaks to creative students who are steeped in the digital revolution in a very powerful and responsible way,” Warder said.

McGucken said he originally had the idea for the festival in the fall. McGucken’s work is supported by a $125,000 grant that Pepperdine received from the prestigious Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to further curriculum development for Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology; a curriculum that has many students eager to participate.

Pepperdine student Dylan Vandam was asked to be a volunteer for the festival and said he immediately wanted to get involved.

“I want to network with other students, faculty and professionals to pursue and to incorporate the knowledge imparted from the leaders at the festival into my everyday life,” Vandam said.

As a student volunteer, Vandam has contributed to the festival by designing the t-shirts that will be worn and given away March 31. Vandam hopes to use his education in pursuing a life based on strong values, which he says he has learned as a Pepperdine student.

Junior Michelle Petty is also a participant and student volunteer for the festival. Petty is a creative writing major and said she was excited when she first heard about the event through Facebook.

Petty says she will have a multi-faceted role in the festival as an usher, liaison, and clean-up crew member.

“Even though doing this will take up a lot of my Saturday writing time, I know it will be an edifying experience,” Petty said.

The festival will begin at the Law School at 8 a.m. and will include lectures and speeches throughout the day. It will not conclude until after 8 p.m. at The Malibu Inn where there will be special musical quests.

All are welcome to volunteer and participate in the festival this Saturday, and also in the volunteer meeting that will be held today at 7 p.m. in the Atrium. For more information please contact Dr. McGucken at Elliot.McGucken@Pepperdine.Edu, or visit the festival’s Web site at http://www.herosjourneyentrepreneurship.org.

http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-29-festival.htm

THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC

New business class connects student passion with capital

AIRAN SCRUBY News Editor

Students from a variety of majors are coming together in a classroom setting to make their dreams come true.

The class, Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology, is listed through the Business Division, but all students may participate.

The course was added to Pepperdine’s curriculum this year, and is taught by a visiting professor, Dr. Elliot McGucken. McGucken previously taught a similar course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has implemented the course in his new post at Pepperdine.

The course is being offered in two forms: as a freshman seminar course and as an upper-division class, comprised mainly of juniors and seniors.

McGucken said the goal of the class was to help students pursue their passion in their careers, and to keep in mind their artistic vision and ethics over the bottom line in business ventures.

“Ideals are real,” McGucken said.

McGucken’s class at UNC gained media attention as an exciting opportunity for students looking to market their artwork, or to make business an art.

“Looks like McGucken’s found a way to inspire a new generation of artistically minded entrepreneurs to follow their passion, and make a living,” wrote Teresea Ciulla in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Matt Llewellyn, a senior advertising and marketing major who is enrolled in the class, said McGucken’s youth and experience make him an effective professor.

“I think he relates to students, because he’s fresh and new,” Llewellyn said.

McGucken himself is an entrepreneur, who won a Merrill Lynch Innovations Grant for his artificial retina for the blind, runs several websites, and has several patents pending on topics ranging from video games to digital rights management.

Artie Calhoun, a senior economics major, said McGucken’s experience brought an extra dimension to the class.

“Dr. McGucken seems to be very experienced in the field of entrepreneurship and quite possibly has a lot to offer to students like myself,” Calhoun said.

Llewellyn started a company which sells bottled water in downtown Los Angeles, with packaging written in Spanish. He said he wishes he had taken the class before he started his venture.

“I think as the class goes on, I’m going to learn a lot from [McGucken],” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn and Calhoun agreed students should take the class, regardless of their major.

“This class teaches about the advantages of thinking outside the box and keeping an open mind about the world around you,” Calhoun said. “Entrepreneurship can be found in every profession.”

Here’s what the Entrepreneur Magazine Blog had to say about AE&T:

Mixing Art With Entrepreneurship, by Teresa Ciulla: Can you actually make your passion your profession? According to Dr. Elliot McGucken, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who's teaching the university's first "Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology 101" class, the answer just may be yes. McGucken's class, which is comprised of a group of 45 students majoring in law, business, art, computer science, journalism and music, focuses on teaching students about creating value over just making money, about letting their higher ideals guide the bottom line. After all, as McGucken says, "Successful companies aren't successful because they make money--they're successful because they create value." Class projects range from a classical music video to a hip hop curriculum and textbook to an online art gallery to a freshman's record label that's signed more than ten bands to a social network being programmed by three computer science majors. Students are seeing that to the degree they succeed in creating useful art and ventures, they'll be able to support their passions with a profitable business. And isn't that what we're all really striving for? To find an excitement in our work in order to beat back the dullness of the typical 9-to-5 routine? Looks like McGucken's found a way to inspire a new generation of artistically minded entrepreneurs to follow their passions—and make a living.



UNC's Daily Tar Heel Reported in March, 2006

Students find dream jobs In class, passions fuel business plans

Erin Wiltgen, Staff Writer

For many, childhood and adolescence pass in a blur of hobbies and passionate adventures, activities seeped in a deep-seated excitement and love inherent in a particular pastime.

In UNC professor Elliot McGucken's "Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology" class, students and teachers work to "make your passion your profession," transforming students' dreams and interests into potential paths for the future.

The unique course allows students interested in fields such as photography, video games, painting, classical music and film production to explore commercial and social ventures in the arts.

They search for and create a plan based in entrepreneurship, which supports and nurtures their individual visions.

"A lot of times school tells you that your dreams aren't important," says McGucken, a physics professor. "But in reality dreams are your most important asset."

The class consists of an independent project that includes three presentations, guest lectures and small-group collaboration.

Sophomore Phil Gennett's project is a clothing line, and he is trying to find a manufacturer for his creations.

He also intends to set up a talent agency.

"I want to blow it up into a new sort of entertainment, like American Idol, but also as a social network for opportunities," Gennett says.

Sophomore Ryan Dean is working on multiple projects. He runs a graphic design company called Cellar Door Design. He also has joined with a photographer in the class to create CD booklet artwork for the second album by his band, The Anchor Comes Home.

"What's most helpful is meeting like-minded people," Dean says.

"The best thing about this class is establishing relationships with the other students and collaborating with each other."

Stefan Estrada, graduate student and teaching assistant for the class, shares a similar view.

"The people in this class have ambition and a vision of things they want to accomplish," Estrada says.

"This isn't a class where you get something done and forget about it. It continues to maybe become your career." .. . . McGucken also says that entrepreneurship classes give students a broader knowledge base.

"It's an irony that the University requires you to specialize when people typically end up switching jobs five or six times and need to know about a lot of different things," McGucken says.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the class will host a show at Local 506 on Franklin Street.

The show, called "Rocky Raccoon's High Tech Hollywood Hip Hop Hedge Fund Hoedown and Fashion/Art/Photography/Video Games Showdown" will feature musical and spoken-word performances, fashion shows, film and video screenings and displays of visual art and photography.

The show is designed as a networking event and as a benefit for the Music Maker Relief Foundation and three web sites - OSCommerce.com, Joomla.org and Gallery.menalto.com.

The Music Maker foundation works to help pioneers of Southern musical traditions gain recognition and meet their financial needs.

One goal of the show, and the class itself, is "to build new cultural centers," McGucken says.

"The University has been separated artificially," he says.

"This class has naturally collapsed all the barriers between business and art and law, putting all the power in the hands of the creator."



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