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ECU Launches the Shumka Centre to Support Entrepreneurship Among Emerging Artists + Designers

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By Michelle Cyca

Posted on | Updated

The Centre will be developed throughout 2018-2021 with a grant from the Vancouver Foundation.

Emily Carr University’s newly established Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship is a new resource for students to access the tools and support they need to successfully launch their projects, products, and organizations.

An initiative of Living Labs, the Centre will be developed throughout 2018 - 2021 with a grant from the Vancouver Foundation and will ultimately act as a hub for activities relating to entrepreneurship at Emily Carr. It aims to be the first culture and creative sector incubator in Western Canada, combining elements of a technology accelerator and a social innovation lab.

It is exciting to partner with the Vancouver Foundation on this work. We look forward to developing these programs, which will increase the unique capacity of artists and designers to impact the city and region.

Kate Armstrong, Director of Living Labs

The grant funds will be used to develop programming, partnerships and operations for the Centre over a three-year period, including engaging students to design frameworks and conduct user research as part of the planning process. By continually testing and refining strategies, the Centre hopes to achieve optimal scale and maximize its impact for students and partners alike.

The Centre was created to address challenges faced by emerging artists and designers, including economic marginalization, disconnection from established spheres of entrepreneurial teaching, and widespread misunderstanding of the practical applications of their work. In response to these barriers, the Centre drives progressive solutions by adapting methods from business and technology sectors, offering innovative programming, and engaging leaders from diverse sectors beyond art and design.

Tools and programming developed by the Centre will help artists and designers can turn great ideas into successful and scalable projects, social initiatives, and businesses that build economic independence and contribute to society.

Vancouver Foundation is dedicated to creating healthy, vibrant and livable communities across BC. Since 1943, our donors have created 1,800 endowment funds and together we have distributed more than $1 billion to charities. From arts and culture to the environment, health and social development, education, medical research and more, we exist to make meaningful and lasting improvements to communities in BC.

Living Labs is one of four research centres at Emily Carr University, with a focus on building creative projects, social venture and entrepreneurship driven by art and design. We build projects and partnership models that use art and design as a mechanism for innovation and community building, and connect with organizations to develop adaptive design labs that create an experimental “third space”. Director Kate Armstrong has extensive experience leading programs and initiatives and has worked with partners including GrowLab, Microsoft, the Beedie School of Business (SFU), Mozilla, the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Lighthouse Labs, Koho, Cognilab, Foodee, A & K Robotics, Curatio, Cassia Research, Two Rivers Gallery, CityStudio Vancouver, and the City of Vancouver.