Creative Entrepreneurship Prize
The Creative Entrepreneurship Prize at StartUp Yale is a $25,000 award supporting student-led ventures and projects that advance innovation in the creative economy. The prize champions artists, producers, and scholars who transform cultural ideas into sustainable infrastructure—ventures that generate both social impact and economic value through creativity.
The Creative Entrepreneurship Prize recognizes visionary student founders and teams who push the boundaries of cultural innovation. Whether you are building a creative business (studio, festival, media label, nonprofit platform) or developing a creative project (film, musical, installation, digital series, or transmedia story), this prize celebrates work that integrates artistic integrity with strategic design.
Winners receive $25,000 in seed funding, mentorship from Yale Ventures Entrepreneurs in Residence, and feedback from leaders across arts, finance, and technology. Participants gain access to Cultural Innovation Lab resources to develop their business model, intellectual property framework, and pitch strategy.
This award reflects Yale’s commitment to treating creative work as a powerful engine of innovation—on par with STEM-based ventures. It invites students to reimagine the future of the arts and humanities as a dynamic, scalable, and values-driven sector of the innovation economy.
Judging Criteria
- Opportunity: The team clearly defines a problem or gap in the creative sector and articulates why their solution matters now.
- Innovation: The project or venture introduces a new model, medium, or approach that reimagines how culture is produced, distributed, or experienced.
- Traction & Engagement: There is early evidence of public interest or validation—audience response,
partnerships, pilot data, press, or community impact. - Team: Founders bring creative vision and practical skills to execute the work, with advisors or collaborators who strengthen the venture.
- Sustainability & Catalytic Potential: Prize funding will meaningfully accelerate the next phase—production, prototype, or launch—toward a viable, lasting model.
Why It Matters
The Creative Entrepreneurship Prize builds a bridge between art and enterprise, inspired by STEM accelerators like Techstars and Y-Combinator but rooted in the ethics of cultural practice. It supports students who see creativity as a form of problem-solving and economic imagination—turning visionary ideas into systems that sustain people, communities, and culture itself.
Important Dates
January 27, 2026: Startup Yale Application Fest
February 2, 2026: Startup Yale application opens
February 12, 2026 at 5:00 pm EST: Startup Yale application deadline
March 6, 2026: Finalist announced.
April 10, 2026: Finalists participate in a live pitch event as part of Startup Yale.
Contact
Frances Pollock
Director, Cultural Innovation Lab at Yale Ventures
frances.pollock@yale.edu
Past Winners
2025 Creative Project: Unboxed Musicians; Audience Choice Winner: Creative Project: Patience: an opera
2025 Creative Venture: Calmware; Audience Choice Winner: Creative Venture: Makerstate
