UP/Start Venture Competition winners

The Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship (RCCE) at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 UP/Start Venture Competition. UP/Start is an initiative of The Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship, focused on incubating and building creative business ventures within the MICA community. Working with industry partners, UP/Start provides mentorship and capital to help nurture ideas into sustainable businesses. This year’s finalists featured an array of diverse ventures ranging from products for millennial families, multifunctional fashion, and even a doll product for adult collectors. 

Judges Takia Ross, Maggie Villegas, Jim Wright, and Joseph Ferlise reviewed business and financial plans from the eight finalists, scoring each venture based on a private pitch, Q&A with a People’s Choice winner awarded by the audience at the UP/Start Finale Event. 

The UP/Start Finale awarded 105,000 USD in funding to the following ventures:

30,000 USD to ORA the Brand, Elana Wallach ’23 (Fiber BFA). 20,000 USD to Baldridge Studios, Natalie Bates ’22 (Business of Art & Design, Entrepreneurship MPS) and Addison Baldridge. 20,000 USD to Chimaera, Angela McQuillan ’22 (Business of Art & Design, Entrepreneurship MPS). 6,000 USD to Oopsduck, Gabriel Chez ’22 (Interactive Arts BFA), Chloe Azcuy ’24 (Interactive Arts BFA), Matthew Grand ’24 (Graphic Design BFA), and Alex Rosales. 6,000 USD to Darling City, Laura Akromas ’23 (Business of Art & Design, Entrepreneurship MPS). 6,000 USD to Nocrastination, Natasha Fray ’23 (Design Leadership MA/MBA). 6,000 USD to Endless Dolls, Kendra Bray ’23 (Business of Art & Design, Entrepreneurship MPS). 6,000 USD to e-Sprouts, Ellis Edwards ’22 (Animation BFA). 5,000 USD People’s Choice Award Winner: Oopsduck.

UP/Start finalists now have the opportunity to move their venture from ideation to implementation at MICA’s new Creative Entrepreneurship Innovation Lab, funded by the Ratcliffe Foundation. CEINNOV will function as a hub for MICA students and alumni to “soft launch” their creative entrepreneurship ventures and learn how to share their creative practices while generating income through their work. CEINNOV also hopes to curb the venture competition dropoff that can happen after completing a pitch program. Students and alumni part of MICA’s Creative Entrepreneurship co-curricular programs now have the ability to move from the classroom directly into a market ready educational space located in a Baltimore based entrepreneurship ecosystem to incubate at the Baltimore Innovation Center (BIC). 

About Phillip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation
Phil and Carole Ratcliffe created the foundation in 2003 with a vision to provide access to education & training for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners to grow their ventures, create jobs, and expand economic opportunities in local communities. 

About Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship
The RCCE serves as a creative hub for MICA students and alumni to engage with programs that connect resources and training to grow creative ideas into viable businesses.

About MICA
Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation. The College enrolls over 3,000 undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies students from 49 states and 65 countries in fine arts, design, electronic media, art education, liberal arts, and professional studies degree and non-credit programs. With art and design programs ranked in the top ten by US News and World Report, MICA is pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to innovation, research, and community and social engagement. Alumni and programming reach around the globe, even as MICA remains a cultural cornerstone in the Baltimore/Washington region, hosting hundreds of exhibitions and events annually by students, faculty and other established artists.