Arts Commission Launches Program for Newly Established Creative Small Businesses

(INDIANAPOLIS) The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) is now accepting applications for Vision & Venture, a new, six-week virtual workshop series focused on business processes and essential start-up tasks for creatives with less than one year of business experience. Dr. Elaine Grogan Luttrull of Minerva Financial Arts will lead interactive workshops designed for a cohort of no more than 15 creatives.

Vision & Venture is the third program in the IAC's Business Development suite of offerings. The program joins the On-Ramp Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator, which started in 2018, and The Creative Leap Workshop Series, which launched earlier in 2025. Vision & Venture is designed to be the entry program for artists starting a creative small business. The On-Ramp program is designed for emerging small businesses who are scaling to a new level, and The Creative Leap is the culminating program, designed for artists who have been in business for a minimum of five to seven years and looking to inject strategic energy into their existing practices.

In the fall of 2023, the Indiana Arts Commission launched a statewide Artist Needs Assessment to inform new and refined services and programming for artists and creative small businesses in Indiana. Vision & Venture was designed to meet needs identified by the assessment process, including a need for financial education and need for increased networking and mentoring for artists.

"Indiana's creatives bring vibrancy and ingenuity to our local economies," said Jordan Adams, Artist Services Program Manager with the IAC. "Vision & Venture will help support the next generation of creative entrepreneurs in our state, launching businesses that will strengthen our Main Streets and Indiana's economy."

Applications are open now and will close on Thursday, January 8, 2026. Workshops will take place in February and March 2026. Learn more about the program and how to apply.