Lead an innovative creative career, inspire sustainable community change, and become a creative social entrepreneur. The Graduate Certificate in Creative Social Entrepreneurship offers a flexible and expansive curriculum in a 100% online and asynchronous learning environment. Creative social entrepreneurship is a transdisciplinary field connecting creative, social, and entrepreneurial practices to improve the economic, environmental, political, and social well-being of society.
There is high demand for creative professionals with creativity, originality, initiative, and innovation and entrepreneurship skills across nonprofit, governmental, for-profit, and start-up companies.
As a creative social entrepreneur, you will think innovatively, act ethically, and lead with purpose as an enterprising creative within the creative and cultural sector, one of the leading sectors for US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exports and imports.
Apply now and join us in shaping a future where your creative social entrepreneurship vision drives social innovation in your community and beyond.
Why choose our program?
- Integration into master’s degree programs at the University of Kentucky
- Flexible Asynchronous Online Format
- Relevant Curriculum for Creative Entrepreneurial Success
- Top-quality Teaching by Industry Experts and Leading Researchers
- Strategic Application in the Job Market
- Simple Admission Process for Working Professionals
- High-quality Online Learning Experience
- World’s First Graduate Program in Creative Social Entrepreneurship
The skills you are likely to gain from the program:
- Interpreting the value and economic contributions of the creative and cultural sector
- Identifying entrepreneurial opportunities involving creative and social practices
- Conducting market research for creative market and industry discovery
- Assessing entrepreneurial risks and transforming risks into creative and social values
- Analyzing important financial strategies for creative social enterprise development
- Presenting and communicating entrepreneurial ideas to varied audiences of stakeholders
- Connecting social innovation to creative and enterprise practices
Program development sponsored by University of Kentucky’s Office of the Provost IMPACT Grant and the Gary B. Knapp Endowment.
Our program is directly aligned with the following UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
Curriculum
Our program is designed to inspire creative professionals and practitioners who are looking to develop entrepreneurship knowledge and skills and leverage creativity for social good and community change.
Core Curriculum (15 credit hours)
- CSE 571: The Creative and Cultural Industries (1 credit hour)
In order to create a strong new business venture or enterprise, you need to become intimately familiar with the industrial context surrounding the arts. Students in the Creative and Cultural Industries course will explore the landscape of the creative and cultural industries, one of the biggest economic sectors, within the United States.
- CSE 572: Creative and Social Entrepreneurial Readiness (1 credit hour)
Embarking on an entrepreneurial endeavor requires a strong sense of readiness. Students in the Creative and Social Entrepreneurial Readiness apply managerial and leadership concepts towards the development of creative social entrepreneurial mindset and skillset.
- CSE 573: Customer Discovery in the Creative and Cultural Industries (1 credit hour)
Knowing the people and behaviors of people in the creative and cultural industries grounds the development of any new creative social venture. Students in the Customer Discovery in the Creative and Cultural Industries course will utilize customer discovery techniques to analyze the market surrounding their new venture.
- CSE 575: New Creative Social Venture Planning (3 credit hours)
Strategic management and planning of a new creative social venture requires skill development in visioning, making calculated assumptions, and building the creative, social, and enterprise structures for your new ventures. Students in the New Creative Social Venture Planning course will evaluate and create strategic enterprise plans for the development of their new creative social venture.
- CSE 576: Start Up Financing for Creative Social Enterprises (3 credit hours)
Every business needs a strategy for developing their organizational financing. For start-up creative social entrepreneurs, financial strategy sets the foundation for new ventures to grow, scale, and adapt their enterprise development. Students in the Start-Up Financing for Creative Social Entrepreneurs course will evaluate and create financial plans, documents, and systems for the development of their creative social enterprises.
- AAD 595: Arts and Creativity Accelerator (3 credit hours)
Every artist needs a studio to practice and develop their creative skills. In entrepreneurship, and accelerator serves as the creativity and innovation studio where a creative social entrepreneur can build on their strategies and begin to establish a viable business. In the arts and creativity accelerator course, students who have spent time working on and ideating their creative social ventures will put their knowledge into practice and work towards the development of an initial arts-centered minimum viable product to catalyze their creative social entrepreneurship ideas.
- CSE 770: Creative Social Innovation (3 credit hours)
CSE 770: Creative Social Innovation
Hand in hand with creative social enterprise is creative social innovation: the practice of creating and sharing solutions for and/or by creative practitioners, in order to make societal and cultural change in the world. Students in the Creative Social Innovation course will analyze and evaluate current social, environmental, and cultural issues and connect their emerging creative social enterprise to identify solutions for social and cultural progress.
AAD or other courses selected in consultation with advisor and by departmental approval
Admissions
Applications for Fall 2024 Admissions will open on July 1.
Application Requirements
Standard graduate applications requirements apply. Within the application, you will submit the following materials:
- CV or resume
- Personal statement. Compose a statement of purpose which explains why you wish to pursue your certificate in Creative Social Entrepreneurship.
- Writing sample (optional).
Course Developers
Principal, AYA Thought Studio
Associate Director for Social Innovation, UK Innovate
Artist, Community Engagement Practitioner, Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar, The Ohio State University
Community Arts Program Leader, Community Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky,
University of Kentucky
NOTE: This certificate is pending approval by UK Faculty Senate