Grants for the Arts - Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program

Overview

Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program

This program is designed to pair access to existing small business consulting services with financial resources of $2,000 for creative entrepreneurs who aspire to start their own for-profit business or who operate an existing for-profit micro business.

Overview

Creative entrepreneurs are invaluable assets to communities. They lead innovation, deliver creative products and services, generate economic opportunity, and build community identity. Assisting creative entrepreneurs is part of the pathway to recovery and increased opportunity within a rapidly changing economic environment.

Additionally, this program advances and prioritizes the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts' overarching value of diversity, equity, and inclusion and prioritize investment in creative entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous, or persons of color (BIPOC) or those located in and whose work benefits low-income communities.

For the purpose of the Program, low-income communities are those where the poverty rate is greater than or equal to 20% or the median family income is less than or equal to 80% of the area median income.

The Process

* Identify creative entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a business.
* Creative entrepreneur reaches out to PPA Partner for referral coordinator information.
* Creative entrepreneur & referral coordinator consult and review business plan.
* Referral coordinator works with and refers creative entrepreneur to PPA regional partner.
* Creative entrepreneur completes and submits client information form & application to PPA Partner.
* Upon receipt of eligible and complete application, PPA Partner enters into grant award agreement with creative entrepreneur

Referral Process

For the purposes of the Program, “viable business plan” means evidence of planning directed at forming a for-profit business or pursuing sustainable growth opportunities for an existing for-profit business. Evidence of planning may take a variety of forms and may be assessed by the Referral Coordinators’ existing methods of working with clients.

Examples of appropriate planning include, but are not limited to:

* New business brief.
* Completed Business Model Canvases.
* Participation in business planning workshop.
* Streamlined pitch deck.
* Recorded business pitch presentation.
* Extensive business plan.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Applicants must:
* Have not received Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Funding in the past three years
* (Creative Entrepreneurs are eligible to apply for the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program once every three years).
* Be at least 18 years of age and a current resident of Pennsylvania for at least one year.
* Demonstrate gross revenue of less than $200,000 from the creative entrepreneur business
* Possess all current and valid licenses, permits, leases, certifications, and registrations required to engage in the creative endeavor (e.g. tattoo, street performance) in the geographical location served by the entrepreneurship.
* Who are creative entrepreneurs?
* Under this program's definition, creative entrepreneurs are individuals who intend to form a business or who operate a for-profit micro business in Pennsylvania within one or more of the following creative industry areas:
* Marketing
* Advertising and marketing agencies & professionals.
* Architecture
* Architecture firms & architects.
* Visual Arts & Crafts
* Galleries, artists, artisans & makers.
* Design
* Product, interior, graphic, and fashion design firms and designers.
* Film & Media
* Film, video, animation, TV & Radio businesses.
* Digital Games
* Companies, programmers & individuals producing games.
* Music & Entertainment
* Producers, venues, musicians & performers.
* Publishing
* Print or electronic businesses & content creators, editors & writers.
* Eligible Uses of Funds
* Funds must support business formation or development.
* Eligible funds should act as an activator to your business growth and sustainability.
* Eligible uses of funds include:
* Professional fees for workshops, consultants, and career coaching.
* Participation in events, trade shows, festivals, etc. that offer access to audience and revenue generation potential.
* Business development fees for courses or seminars for business skills.
* Research and development.
* Marketing and promotion.
* Development or upgrades to technology related to business practices.
* Studio/rehearsal/retail space rent
* (outside of regular business operating costs, rent, and utilities)
* Reasonable fees for supporting/collaborating artists.
* Purchase of supplies and/or equipment.
* Eligible entrepreneurs must engage a PPA Partner designated Referral Coordinator in at least one consultation regarding a business formation or development activity

Ineligibility

* Funds Cannot Be Used for the Following Purposes:
* Activities outside the funding period.
* Activities that have a religious purpose.
* Payments to lobbyists.
* Activities for which academic credit is given.
* Offsets to regular business operating costs, including regular salary or wages.
* Hospitality, food, or beverages.
* Direct or indirect participation in a political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.
* Attempts to influence legislation.