MCAD emphasizes a collaborative process and working with students from all majors. For this Bachelor of Science minor, you will take courses in several different areas, including a core focus, adding up to 15 total credits required for graduation.
Required Courses - These are the core courses that every Entrepreneurship minor student takes.
Electives - Throughout your studies, you can choose from several studio electives that give you hands-on creative time.
Learning Outcomes
Funding creative ventures requires developing proposals that are clearly, concisely, and persuasively written. This course covers the essential skills needed for effective proposal writing in creative and commercial settings. Students concept, write, and revise project proposals using grant templates, crowdfunding platforms, and proposal documents as references. Through case studies, students examine various funding channels, then develop project proposals with matching budget projections that are delivered through writing and presentations.
This course covers the nuts and bolts of starting and managing a business from crafting a business concept, to analyzing market demand, to developing a marketing strategy, to establishing a legal entity as well as key elements of financing, budgeting, operating, and growing a business. In a workshop setting, students examine various types of arts- and design-related businesses and the range of issues associated with each as well as key aspects of freelancing, building a business firm, and growing a business operation. Through case studies and hands-on projects, students learn all the elements of a successful business enterprise.
This course introduces Advertising majors and other interested students to the serious fun of advertising. Students work in creative teams as they would in an agency setting to concept a variety of advertising executions for products and services of all types. Guest speakers from the agency side, media side, and client side discuss the creative process and what’s worked for them.
The marketing and advertising industry is grounded in the supremacy of ideas and is constantly adjusting to emerging communication platforms. This class examines those adjustments and emergence in depth to understand how effective ideas continue to come to life across digital and social media. We’ll explore and define how consumer, category, and platform insights matter. We’ll consider and develop strategic foundations that support ideas across multiple media. We’ll dive into the tools marketers and agencies use to power ideas today. Assignments throughout the semester will introduce students to exercises in developing content for existing and emerging digital platforms while exploring the relationship between humans, and existing and emerging technologies to create innovative campaigns. Marketing and advertising guest speakers will join the faculty in reviewing assignments and offering feedback on assignments.
The science of biology, its methods and its contexts provide insights into the commonalities of patterning in the natural and social worlds. Students will be introduced to organic systems and general systems theory, along with applications of these models in organizations and other social systems. Students learn concepts and approaches to scientific inquiry and taxonomy based on observation and through practical experience.
We are surrounded by endless amounts of data. In nature, we can see inherent rhythms that can be appreciated numerically. This course uncovers the process of gathering and analyzing data from known sample sets such as websites, market research, government agencies, and more. Students will explore the theory of analytics, identify sources of data, and practice the methods of visualizing data in a variety of contexts including applications in communications, marketing, and as applied in a creative practice.
In the professional world, projects are successfully completed through the efforts of teams by effective leadership, collaboration, planning, innovation, structure, and flexibility. In this course, students experience the processes and approaches that are used while working with a team on real-world client projects such as websites, multimedia presentations, and environmental design. Coaches serve as mentors to guide teams in the project’s process throughout the semester. This course is open to second-year BSc students and BFA students with junior or senior standing. This course must be taken concurrently with BS 3850 Project Tracking.
This course looks at how can we use our creative powers to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” in line with the goals of sustainable development. Designed for students from all MCAD disciplines, this course reviews a brief history of sustainability through the lens of creativity and visual aesthetics. Students will examine existing sustainability frameworks that seek to balance the social, environmental, and economic goals of the world we live in. The course also looks at current events and terminology related to climate science, social equity, and the circular economy. Throughout the second half of the semester, students work in teams with clients to find solutions for aspects of sustainability for individuals, citizens, and consumers.
This course combines basic economic principles with tools from the discipline of urban and regional economics. It focuses on ways in which artists and designers contribute to the prosperity of their city, and shows how their work can contribute to the economic success of potential employers, customers, or clients.