You could make the case that the lines that separate an artist from an entrepreneur are virtually nonexistent.
Just like startup founders or other business owners, artists are passion-driven individuals. They are making a product and seeking to sell it in a marketplace. They’re creating something tangible, pushing the boundaries, and often assuming great risks in doing so.
In their own right, many artists are makers, marketers, and managers of their art.
This premise is a centerpiece of Gener8tor’s recently launched program, Fellowship.art, which in essence applies the startup accelerator model—which typically provides funding, mentorship, and business connections during a short-term training session—to the visual arts world. The program, which launched with its first cohort in October in Milwaukee, is predicated on the idea that artists are entrepreneurs, and like in the traditional business or startup worlds, these creative beings need the appropriate tools and mentorships to survive and thrive.
“We’ve recognized early on that creatives, artists, and musicians are in fact a classic entrepreneur that can benefit from the same type of resources and capital that startup founders do,” says program director Clare da Silva.
Gener8tor launched in 2012 with programs in Milwaukee and Madison, WI, that invest in early-stage startups, help them hone their business models, and connect them with industry leaders and other potential investors. In recent months, the Wisconsin-based organization has expanded its programs to cities across the Midwest and beyond. This year, Gener8tor also made its first forays into the arts with the rollouts of Fellowship.art and Backline in Milwaukee and gBETA Musictech in Los Angeles. But whereas Backline and gBETA Musictech revolve around the music industry, Fellowship.art is exclusively geared toward visual artists.
The new Gener8tor venture follows a structure similar to its other accelerator programs: a cohort of four artists participate in a 12-week program during which they receive one-on-one support, mentoring, and coaching to help them navigate and succeed in the art world. The focus is on building a local arts scene, so of the four artist slots, three are reserved for Milwaukeeans and one is slated for a recipient located outside the area.
The program is one of the few fellowship programs in Milwaukee for local visual artists. (The Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists is another notable one.) But Gener8tor isn’t the only organization that offers startup accelerator-like programs for the arts. Others located around the country include Theatre Accelerator, Zoo Labs, Creative Capital, and the Center for Cultural Innovation.
In addition to the training, each Fellowship.art artist receives a grant of up to $15,000 through the program, which is based out of the new creative arts hub in Milwaukee, No Studios. As part of the program, free use of studio space at the recently opened wellness and entrepreneurial hub Sherman Phoenix is also available to select artists for up to a year. A second cohort of Fellowship.art artists will be selected in 2019, with future classes depending on funding, da Silva says.
“We could be doing more to support creatives and innovators from the ground up,” da Silva says. “We see a lot of similarities between what [Gener8tor has] been able to accomplish on the startup side, and [what] we think [we] can transfer and offer to support creatives, visual artists, and musicians.”
Wisconsin impact
Given Gener8tor’s origins in the Wisconsin startup world, it’s apropos that its transition to art is next on the agenda.
The parallels between the state’s startup and arts scenes are striking: Like with startups, Wisconsin’s reputation for investing in art isn’t stellar.
Wisconsin spends less per capita on the arts than most other states, ranking 48th out of the 50 states in per capita government expenditures, according to 2018 data from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Similarly, Wisconsin consistently pulls in a bottom-of-the-barrel grade for startup activity from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the state’s early-stage companies take in meager amounts of venture capital when compared to other parts of the country—although there have been efforts by state legislators and private investors to reverse those trends.
Nevertheless, this symmetry between the arts and startups didn’t go unnoticed by Gener8tor, which has tweaked its organizational focus to expand beyond just tech ventures, da Silva says.
“We now say we’re a platform to support a community’s best and brightest,” she says.
Aside from entrepreneurship and creativity, programs like Fellowship.art have the potential to
