Skip to main content

NMSU’s Arrowhead Center hosts info session on Creative Startups

alicia-loy

Arrowhead Center, the economic development engine of New Mexico State University, will host an information session at 8 a.m. Monday, June 22, with Alice Loy, co-founder of Albuquerque-based Creative Startups, at Cafe de Mesilla, 2190 Avenida de Mesilla.

Alice Loy, co-founder of Albuquerque-based Creative Startups, will present an information session about the accelerator at 8 a.m. Monday, June 22, at Cafe de Mesilla, 2190 Avenida de Mesilla. (Courtesy photo)

Creative Startups is the nation’s only startup accelerator specifically for businesses in the creative industries, and is accepting applications for the 2015 startup program.

Creative Startups accepts entrepreneurs whose startup concepts combine creative fields such as fashion, film, music, architecture or design with innovation and technology. Those who are accepted into the accelerator receive a wide array of benefits, including an entrepreneurship curriculum designed specifically for creatives, by creatives, made in partnership with Stanford entrepreneurship faculty. They will also have access to investors and to a national network of qualified and skilled mentors, and the opportunity to compete for $50,000 of no-interest loans for startup costs.

Applications are open June 1 to July 10, and the program is open to both U.S. and international startups. The program will begin on Aug. 31, and all participants, along with investors and mentors, will meet for a weeklong event in Albuquerque in October.

“This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in the creative industry to gain access to exceptional mentors and networks in the industry in the United States and around the world,” said Arrowhead Center Director Kathy Hansen. “The collaboration and partnership between Arrowhead Center and Creative Startups is an example of the efforts taking place to continue building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Paso del Norte region and in the state of New Mexico in the far-reaching array of entrepreneurship.”

Entrepreneurs in the 2104 program raised $1 million in funding over a six-month period. Creative Startups has connected aspiring creative entrepreneurs with successful mentors who have been responsible for launching and building iconic brands and companies such as Fast Company Magazine, Hopeless Records, Artful Home and SOFA, among others.

Meow Wolf, a Santa Fe-based artist collaborative that presented its “Glitteropolis” interactive art installation at NMSU in 2012 as part of the Department of Art’s Visiting Artist Program, has seen great success through its participation in Creative Startups. Since the accelerator, the group has partnered with novelist George R. R. Martin of “Game of Thrones,” completed a successful $100,000-plus Kickstarter campaign, and launched a fundraising campaign to open a new interactive space this year.

Entrepreneurs and creative community leaders are invited to learn more about the accelerator at the June 22 information session. To RSVP, visit http://goo.gl/forms/luErXFtx2l. For more information about Creative Startups, visit www.creative-startups.org.