Apply for NextFab's Artisan Accelerator Program!

About

NextFab’s Artisan Accelerator program is an eight-week experience giving artisan entrepreneurs the essential tools, support, and structure to build viable businesses. This intensive program is designed specifically to help craft profitable business models, reach new customers, and lay the foundation to build successful companies. In addition to the eight-week coursework in business strategy, NextFab offers access to equipment, technical know-how, and a community of fellow artisan entrepreneurs and creators. To assist entrepreneurs to apply this knowledge, each accepted applicant will receive one year of NextFab membership.

Our intent is to support and grow the community by giving artists a framework of tools to use when approaching their work. We place an emphasis on examining each individual business in a collaborative way, and with this supportive setting, we create a space where we critically examine how to balance passion with profitability. NextFab takes great pride in supporting the creative business economy and we believe the world is brighter and more vibrant when artists receive the support and resources they need.

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Goal/Outcome

The goal of this program is to provide tools for artists to convert their abstract or concrete entrepreneurial design ideas into clearly executable business strategies. This program provides students with not only a philosophical understanding of how and why business is important but also exposes students to modern tools and techniques to guide them in methods of thinking and building blocks of the process. Throughout the program, students will learn and practice some basic financial modeling, management, and industrial process-oriented thinking, and apply it to their own craft business in a hands-on manner. The program will help students build a basic skill set that enables them to think on a slightly higher level as business thinkers and communicators.

The program consists of coaching sessions, 1-on-1 office hours, and interactive roundtables that examine individual businesses within the group so that students can study and contextualize their learning and discussions around real-world examples. Other sessions are organized to build on this framework, including time for 1-on-1 meetings with a certain focus on individual needs. We hope that this program equips you with the knowledge and tools to make educated business decisions about your growth now and in the future.

Two accelerator cohorts will be held each year, one in the spring and one in the fall, and six to eight applicants will be selected for each cohort. If selected, each applicant will receive one year of Ultimate membership at NextFab.

The application window opens on Monday, March 1, 2023, and closes on Friday, March 31, 2023.

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Artisan Accelerator Spring 2023 Schedule:

Application window opens on: Wednesday, March 1st
Application window closes on: Friday, March 31st at midnight
Program starts on: Wednesday, April 19th
Program ends on: Wednesday, June 14th
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This program runs from April 19, 2023, to June 14, 2023, and will be a hybrid program (virtual and in-person workshops). The Fall 2023 Schedule is slated to begin in late September with exact dates forthcoming.

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