Entrepreneurs in the creative sector pitched their fresh ideas in the Creatives Meetup event

18.6.2024 2 Like 0 kommenttia

Uniarts Helsinki’s Uniarts Hub project, Aalto Digital Creatives and Startup Refugees organised an event called Creatives Meetup on 21 May at G Live Lab. Students participating in the pre-incubator programme hosted by Uniarts Helsinki and Aalto University pitched their business idea to an audience and a jury. The event was open for everyone, and it was held in English. The event concluded this spring’s Uniarts Hub programme at Uniarts Helsinki. The application period for the next edition of the programme starts in August.

Uniarts Hub is a pre-incubator programme that aims to support entrepreneurship in the arts industries, offering an extensive info package on different possibilities of entrepreneurship as well as development support for the participants’ personal business ideas. The application period for the next Uniarts Hub programme will run from 5 to 18 August 2024. The programme will start on 10 September and end on 21 November.

The pre-incubator is part of the Campus Incubators Programme, which is funded by the City of Helsinki, and its partners include Aalto University, Arcada, Haaga-Helia, Hanken, the University of Helsinki and Metropolia, in addition to Uniarts Helsinki. Some of the institutions offer business incubator services to already-established businesses. Student participants were awarded ECTS credits for their participation in the programme. 

Demo Day supports entrepreneurship and offers a chance to test out ideas  

According to Project Manager for Uniarts Hub Riitta Huttunen, the pre-incubator programme is a way to give talented people in the arts the basic tools to plan a business and a chance to forge networks and to test out their business idea in a pitching event. 

“It’s important to have the required skills and information for designing your own talent into a service. The programme participants demonstrate that an artist can design their own competence into a service that can respond to major societal and global challenges,” Huttunen says. 

The jury members for the event were Anu Oksanen, Heikki Laaninen and Matilda Kivelä. The event was moderated by Katriina Haikala.

“It was great that there were so many people presenting their business ideas at the event! The atmosphere there was really good, encouraging and inspiring. The Creatives Meetup event is a good chance to dip one’s toes into entrepreneurship or test out an already existing idea. The multidisciplinary collaboration that comes out of the pre-incubator programmes and the event is a wonderful thing, because it promotes new innovations,” a member of the jury, Anu Oksanen, summarises. 

Artist Vera Höök will pursue part-time entrepreneurship: “I got the feeling that only sky is the limit for what I can do”

Artist Vera Höök presented her nuanced, large paintings and her hand-painted textiles. Höök, who aims to become a part-time entrepreneur, is interested in the connection between art and wellbeing. 

“I work as a full-time clothing designer, but I’m starting out as a part-time entrepreneur now. I have a lot of ideas all the time, and entrepreneurship seems like a natural fit. I have already had different collaborations”, Höök shares. 

Höök says that she is inspired by the way that art can bring meaningfulness, a good mood and joy to people and even support people’s mental wellbeing. In the event, Höök got to try out idea pitching for the first time. 

“It was definitely nerve-racking, but a nice finish for the whole course! The comments that I got during the course and from the jury reinforced the thoughts that I, too, had already had before. But I was able to get more information on where it would make sense to offer my products, for example. I got the feeling that only sky is the limit for what I can do,” Höök summarises. 

Höök finds that some of the best things that came out of the course were the contacts made and spending time with like-minded people. 

“The course was also nice in the sense that you could build a good network and get ideas for pitching your idea. During the course, my ideas took full shape, and it was beneficial to get feedback on them. Feedback gives you the encouragement to do things! When you meet creative people with the same kinds of thoughts, you are empowered by the networking and the presence of like-minded persons”, Höök says. 

Immersive experience pioneers Inna Huttunen and Tiff Zhang will meet up with their pre-incubator programme mentors even after the course 

Inna Huttunen and Tiff Zhang presented their idea about an immersive experience that is based on Finnish mythology and that would be physically located in the Helsinki city centre. Back in the day, Inna Huttunen was involved in establishing the escape room business in Finland, and she is actually one of the key players in the Finnish field of immersive productions. Tiff Zhang is a creative producer specialised in immersive experiences and multidisciplinary art productions. 

“Our objective is to establish a Finnish-mythology-themed immersive experience situated in the heart of Helsinki’s city centre. Our endeavour is characterised by the artistic quality of the overall experience, a sustainable business model and collaboration with pioneering technologies,” they explain. 

Huttunen and Zhang praise the event for its supportive atmosphere.  

“The event was great! It has a wonderfully supportive atmosphere and it was great to practise our 3-minute pitch in front of colleagues and industry professionals. A rush of adrenaline mixed with joy and pride,” they say. 

Zhang and Huttunen will make use of the mentorship connections they made even after the pre-incubator programme. 

“We are currently having meetings with our mentors through the pre-incubator and developing our funding plan and preparing for investor and collaborator meetings. We aim to move to production in the beginning of the new year and launch our experience in 2025,” they summarise their future plans. 

The next Uniarts Hub program starts in September, apply in August!

The application period for the next Uniarts Hub programme will run from 5 to 18 August 2024. The programme will start on 10 September and end on 21 November. 

The partners for the Creative Meetups event were Helsinki International Artists Association (HIAA), Humak Creve and MOW Mothership.  

More information:  

Emilia Forss, emilia.forss@uniarts.fi