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Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education
Jim Hart speaks with SMU students about the guest speakers they were about to encounter, and how each would speak about making a living in the arts. "We seek to engage students with actively working creative entrepreneurs," Hart says. "It's one thing for their professor to say something is so. When external guest speakers say the same, their learning is reinforced." [Photo: Kim Leeson]
SMU Wins National Innovation Award for Teaching Artists How Not to Starve—by Becoming Entrepreneurs
by David Seeley | Feb 15, 2022
SMU's Arts Entrepreneurship Program has won a major national innovation award for pursuing its North Star mission: "to end the starving artist stereotype." How well are they succeeding? One recent graduate's startup just had a valuation of over $50 million.
![Erica Kosemund, Chief Brand Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Gillian Breidenbach, Chief Partnership Officer, North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; Chief Gary Batton, Chief of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Monica Paul, Executive Director of Dallas Sports Commission and President of North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; John Hobbs, Senior Executive Officer of Communications, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; and Heidi Grant, Senior Executive Officer of Commerce Administration, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, celebrate Choctaw Casinos & Resorts becoming an Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. [Photo: North Texas FWC Organizing Committee/Choctaw Casinos & Resorts]](https://s24806.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIFA-Choctaw-dec-2025.jpg)
