CCAD partners with Venture Highway to offer students entrepreneurship class

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Columbus College of Art & Design is expanding its business curriculum and collaborating with Venture Highway to offer a new entrepreneurship class designed to help artists understand and navigate the critical business aspect of their craft. This is the first time an art college has partnered with the online learning system to broaden its business development offering to students.

The Foundations of Entrepreneurship class is the result of a new partnership between the college and Venture Highway, an organization that designs and elevates entrepreneurial experiences specific to the classroom. It is one of six business-focused classes CCAD is offering its students and the community through its Continuing & Professional Studies program as part of a pilot to explore options for expanding the college's business offerings for art- and design-business entrepreneurs.

"There is no better environment for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship than at campuses like CCAD," said Kevin Gadd, founder and CEO of Venture Highway. "By partnering with CCAD in developing this new class we will be equipping talented artists with practical business skill sets, giving them greater understanding of the business realities that affect their work, and helping them realize what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur."  

Gadd and fellow industry leaders teaching classes in finance, accounting, culture and marketing, and art and design law officially unveil the new courses during the last week of September.

"CCAD is taking an important next step in preparing its students in making the transition into the world of business as an artist," said Dennison W. Griffith, president of CCAD. "Our recent experience as the host site for 10-xcelerator program for entrepreneurs, and knowing the teams involved used the Venture Highway platform, further validated our desire to forge ahead with an entrepreneur-focused program to better prepare our students once they graduate."

The rise in interest in entrepreneurship teaching and programs has Venture Highway engaged in more discussions with educators whose primary focus isn't business or entrepreneurship.

"People with innovative ideas and who are passionate about what they do are the ones who start businesses and help fuel our economy, yet many of those individuals don't have business backgrounds," Gadd said. "This is why we're seeing our entrepreneurship programs becoming so attractive right now – with the right guidance, people are more interested than ever to consider entrepreneurship."    

About Venture Highway

Venture Highway offers an integrated learning suite designed to elevate the entrepreneurial education classroom experience. The suite enables higher education faculty the ability to customize an online curriculum to meet their needs and offers an extensive set of practical entrepreneurial resources. Venture Highway also features a complementary online resource center to help guide the aspiring entrepreneur.

ABOUT CCAD

Columbus College of Art & Design, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest private art and design colleges in the United States with 1,350 undergraduate and graduate students. CCAD offers bachelor's and master's degrees in Fine Arts. Undergraduate students choose from nine majors: photography, industrial design, advertising and graphic design, animation, illustration, fine arts, fashion design, interior design and cinematic arts. www.ccad.edu

To learn more about Venture Highway, visit www.venturehighway.com or call 614.562.7324. Community residents can enroll in the course via www.ccad.edu/ce.

SOURCE Venture Highway