For the second consecutive year, Rhode Island School of Design [RISD] is arming its graduates with “artrepreneur kits.” This practical parting gift includes tools and resources to help these highly creative thinkers to maximize their potential for innovation and explore entrepreneurial possibilities.
As part of the kit, Etsy is offering the first-ever Etsy RISD Fellowship to the 2011 graduate whose shop on the recently launched RISD Etsy Team Page shows the most promise. The winner will receive a 1,500 USD grant to attend Hello Etsy: A Summit on Small Business and Sustainability, which takes place from September 17–18, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Etsy summit is a hands-on gathering for small business owners who want to connect with their peers, get advice on how to establish successful independent businesses and be part of the movement to build human-scale economies.
Square, Inc. is again providing Squares and activation codes for graduating students, which enables credit card payments to be processed anywhere via a small square card reader that plugs directly into a mobile phone input jack. In 2010 RISD was the first college to distribute the newly-launched hardware/software combination.
Also, Behance, the world’s leading platform for creative professionals, is giving graduates free six-month accounts to Prosite, its newly launched online portfolio site. This simple yet sophisticated platform offers unlimited hosting and unlimited project space, with no programming skills required, for 11 USD per month. Behance is also including an Action Journal for each grad.
YouSendIt, Inc., the global leader in secure digital content delivery, is providing each RISD graduate with a 2GB account free for three months, followed by a service discount. YouSendIt allows the transfer of files too large to send via email, eliminating the need for cumbersome FTP sites and expensive overnight couriers.
“A new kind of art+design-led leadership is needed to innovate in the current global economy,” notes RISD President John Maeda. “Artists and designers bring their intuitive, creative thinking to a broad array of fields, and with our Artrepreneur Kit, we are providing them with just a few of the tools and resources that can help launch their work into the public spectrum and help them make a living, in whatever way they choose.”
Read more on creative career initiatives at RISD via the full artrepreneur release on RISD.edu.
The class of 2011 will receive their diplomas during RISD’s 2011 Commencement celebration on Saturday, June 4. National Design Leader Bill Moggridge will deliver the Keynote Address and receive an honorary degree, along with philosopher and specialist in aesthetics Arnold Berleant and public artist Mierle Ukeles.
Learn more about RISD’s Commencement on RISD.edu.
Media contact: Danielle Mancuso | [email protected]
