Resource:How to nurture a community of creators

Sharang and his team at Cooper Union started the “create@cooper” organization in Fall of 2013 (create@cooper.org).  The motivation of create@cooper, according to Sharang, is to expand students' exposure beyond course work to the cultivation of one's creative self. After a year of championing 'Entrepreneurship' with limited results, Sharang and his colleagues realized, tested and validated a new thesis which is resonating well with students in the organization's early days. Cooper Union students have a passion for creativity and innovation. Sharang and his team felt that by cultivating the strong demand for creative expression amongst engineers and artists on campus, they could “connect the dot” and provide a fertile ground for cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset.

Create@cooper has four parts:

• create and tell

  

• community workshops

  

• creator stories

  

• journeys to creation

  

Faculty as well as many local entrepreneurs have been very supportive to create@cooper. The team raised sponsorship from the Huffington Post Tech, Hackerati and ZocDoc.   Given the team's growth plans and the fact that both co-founders are seniors, the team is actively building an organization with an eye towards recruiting future leadership. Similar to the I2V workshop at Cooper Union, create@cooper incorporated the technological flavor of Cooper Union and engaged the local community of New York City. The entrepreneurship path for create@cooper is first to raise community awarenesss, then involve more students and finally shape them to lead entrepreneurship.