Matt Woolman Is Turning Art Students Into Entrepreneurs

Matt Woolman is a radical. Not only is he the director of Creative Entrepreneurship in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University—the former designer is teaching art students how to be entrepreneurs.

Crazy talk? Not according to Woolman, who knows that to making a living as an artist means running your own business.

“Entrepreneurship translates to skills, a mindset, and a confidence to go out and if you want to sell your paintings around the world, the ability to do just that at VCUarts,” he explains.

Although there was pushback at first, especially from traditional fine artist teachers, Woolman says students are embracing this big idea—and slowly but surely he’s seeing a positive change of mindset for the school.

You’ll learn why—and more—in our podcast interview with Matt, including insights about:

• VCU School of the Arts—and why it has become the number one public arts school in the country.
• VCUarts entrepreneurial program—its long- and short-term goals.
• Why the Millennials are eager to balance their artistic sensibilities with a business mindset—and how their fine art-focused teachers feel about it.
• VCU’s Creative Disruption Lab—and how it’s engaging business leaders from around the region, an the country.

Download our podcast interview now!

And coming Sept. 1 read our Q&A interview with Woolman, which also features artwork by the talented art students in his program.