Graduate Certificate in Creative Social Entrepreneurship

The Graduate Certificate in Creative Social Entrepreneurship is open to qualified applicants who have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in the United States or abroad.

The GRE is not required for admission to this program. Standard graduate application requirements apply.

Applications must include:

• CV or Resume. Please include a resume that notes your education, professional and volunteer experience, accomplishments, and qualifications for graduate study.
• Statement of Purpose. Compose a statement of purpose that explains why you wish to pursue your Certificate in Creative Social Entrepreneurship.
• Writing sample (optional). If you are not currently enrolled in a degree program at the University of Kentucky, please submit a writing sample (3-6 pages). Writing samples may include researched essays, marketing or fundraising materials, planning documents or journalistic work.

Applications are accepted for the Graduate Certificate on a rolling basis for fall, spring, and summer semesters. Applicants will receive a decision letter within two weeks of the submission of all application materials. The final deadlines for admission are as follows:

• Fall: July 25
• Spring: December 12
• Summer: April 19

CSE 571: The Creative and Cultural Industries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Please note that federal financial aid is not available for certificate programs, but other financial resources may be available on the Financial Aid page.

If you plan to complete a University of Kentucky online program while living outside of Kentucky, you should check the Out-of-State Students page to determine if the University of Kentucky is authorized to proved this program in your state of residence. If you plan to use the degree to seek licensure, you should also determine if the degree meets the education requirements for licensure in your state.