At the Maryland Institute College of Art, focusing on entrepreneurship is a strategy for success — not just for graduates navigating a challenging job market, but for the institution’s survival.
Since at least the COVID-19 pandemic, MICA has faced financial challenges, leading to layoffs and a broader restructuring. It isn’t alone — colleges across the country are grappling with the economic impact of declining enrollment. Still, MICA weathered these challenges and remains one of the few mid-Atlantic art schools still operating, while Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and Delaware College of Art and Design both closed in 2024.
At MICA’s inaugural Creative Entrepreneurship Social Innovation Conference (CESI), speakers discussed how the institution’s entrepreneurship curriculum can chart a path forward.
“I didn’t want to just do a business program, because I felt like it’s lacking in the area of the arts and of appealing to people.”
Faridat Ilupeju, Kunaya
The conference was organized by the Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship. Established in 2019 with a $5 million grant from the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, the center serves as a hub for students and faculty to access resources and develop their business ideas.
Raymond Barclay, senior vice president of enrollment strategy, innovation and partnerships at MICA, views the center — which offers classes, pitch competitions and fellowship opportunities — as key to the school’s growth.
“It’s hugely important for enrollment,” Barclay told Technical.ly. “But it’s also hugely important for alternative revenue stream development, for the campus and for our regional community. We really see ourselves not just as stakeholders but as burgeoning leaders in this space.”
Balancing art and commerce
Faridat Ilupeju began developing her product, Kunaya — an alternative milk made from tiger nuts, a food popular in West Africa and the Mediterranean — while pursuing her graduate degree in design leadership at MICA. The dual-degree program, offered in partnership with Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, allowed her to study at both institutions and tap into each school’s network. Ilupeju emphasized the program’s versatility and the unique perspective it offered compared with a traditional Master’s of Business Administration.
“I didn’t want to just do a business program, because I felt like it’s lacking in the area of the arts and of appealing to people,” Ilupeju said. “Business can be very analytical, and I wanted to have a more creative approach to building my product.”
Ilupeju also took part in MICA’s UP/Start venture competition, where members of the MICA community compete for a share of over $100,000 in funding. She won $10,000 to continue developing Kunaya, which she plans to put toward finalizing her recipe and expanding brand awareness.
Other signature Ratcliffe programs include First Year Fellows, which introduces first-year students to the business side of artmaking. Participants take entrepreneurship courses and can access the Make Cool Stuff Lab, equipped with tools like 3D printers and embroidery machines. The center also provides grants for faculty to organize industry tours and develop entrepreneurship-focused curriculum.
According to MICA enrollment data, 16 students declared a creative entrepreneurship minor, and more than 140 enrolled in related courses during the last school year.
Preparing artists for economic sustainability
MICA isn’t the only art school embracing entrepreneurship. The conference also featured a panel of university leaders who discussed different approaches to teaching creative entrepreneurial skills.
Sara Hartmann, program director of creative entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, observed that many working artists in the school’s creative economy business incubator turned to entrepreneurship training out of necessity. Still, she’s cautious about promoting the idea that entrepreneurship alone can solve financial insecurity.
“I’m looking more and more at how we can establish new metrics and what data we need to collect to help us know whether this training in entrepreneurship is contributing to meaningful economic stability,” Hartmann said.
Zane Forshee, director of the Peabody Launchpad, the Johns Hopkins-affiliated music conservatory’s career services arm, sees the courses offered at the school as a baseline. He emphasized that connecting students to experiential learning opportunities — whether collaborating with other artists off campus or gaining exposure to different industries — is crucial for broadening art students’ perspectives.
He added that while it can be challenging to emphasize practical applications to students focused on developing their artistic practice, it’s essential to introduce these concepts early in the educational process.
“The thing that we’ve done well in higher ed is teaching the craft,” Forshee said, adding: “The issue becomes: How can you turn that into a sustainable career?”
