Mountain Association

Building a New Economy, Together.

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Creative Economy Training

Creative Economy Training

The Mountain Association works with partners to develop training for artists and creatives, unique small businesses and cultural heritage nonprofits, and local government staff to learn how to build their community’s creative economy.

We work with the AIR Institute and other regional partners, including the Small Business Development Center and the Kentucky Arts Council, to offer facilitator training so participants are prepared to then go out and donduct workshops in their hometowns. 

We train facilitators so they are prepared to present the following workshops:

Art Builds Business Builds Art (ABBA)

ABBA is a 1.5 hour workshop helps communities begin to organize around growing their creative economy.

Shift

The three-day “Shift” workshop is the next step in organizing to grow a community’s creative economy. In Shift workshops, facilitators guide workshop participants through the design thinking process and a business canvas to create a small scale project to address an issue in their community using arts or creativity. Projects must be locally implementable within a year and have a $10,000 or less budget.

For example, after a workshop in Letcher County, youth built a giant scrabble board on the lawn at the town’s outdoor music stage, and began planning a cooking competition in Whitesburg. 

Evolve

Evolve is a flexible, multi-month, business development program designed to transform passions, interests, and skills into a viable venture, project, or new life path. Cohorts of creative entrepreneurs learn practical business skills using design thinking, the AIR venture canvas, and Lean Startup principles.

Each participant prototypes their venture during the program and gets constant real world feedback from their potential markets – even in the first class. Throughout the program, participants build and refine their business plan in preparation for a final presentation that helps them gain support for their venture.

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To learn more about these trainings, contact Betsy Whaley at betsy@mtassociation.org

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