Student organization encourages arts and business students to converge

Some Arts Enterprise students sport T-shirts from the 2011 national conference.

Arts Enterprise (AE), a student organization currently in its third year at UMKC, hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Some of these include Artist Career Day, a workshop series, a national conference and several social activities. AE also offers full scholarships to selected applicants for a summer business series for artists, according to former organization president Erika Kinser.

Within the UMKC chapter of the AE website, is the chapter’s history: “The UMKC Arts Enterprise Chapter was founded in the fall of 2009 under the leadership and persistence of a DMA Student, Erika Kinser, and the support of UMKC’s Conservatory of Music and Dance. Since then, Arts Enterprise has grown and evolved into a network and community of artists and entrepreneurs both on-campus and in the Kansas City Community.”

Kinser is now an elected board member of the national umbrella organization, Arts Enterprise Central. According to its “About” section, AE Central “encourages students to work across disciplines in an effort to enhance their education, open new career paths, develop their entrepreneurial imagination, and improve the overall quality of campus and community life.”

“Arts Enterprise is a student-run, student-led, student-driven organization consisting of students in both the business and artistic realms,” Kinser said. “We aim to educate, connect and inspire art and business students through various extracurricular experiences, events, and activities.”

Last year, the UMKC chapter of AE was recognized as the National Chapter of the Year. The award rests on the wall in Grant Hall adjacent to the music office. This past February, the UMKC chapter also hosted the national conference.

“We had approximately 100 art and business students from around the country join us for a weekend of networking, learning, and dreaming,” Kinser said.

This school year, the conference will be held March 23-25 in California.

The first official meeting of AE this semester was Sept. 9 in Grant Hall. Since then, there has been a social mixer at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 18, and a dinner following that mixer in Oak Street Residence Hall. The dinner was prepared by AE member Desiree Hines.

For more information about AE, visit www.artsenterprise.com, or contact current President Joelle Teeter.

mheiman@unews.com