StART Entrepreneurship Project
The RNCM’s world-leading entrepreneurship education was recognised when it was awarded £902,153 from the Office for Students and Research England (UK governmental bodies) to lead a project exploring the most effective ways to train creative industries students in entrepreneurial skills.
This two-year ‘StART Entrepreneurship project’ (2020-22) was led by Dr Michelle Phillips (Head of Enterprise (Academic)) at the RNCM, and was in partnership with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and University of the Arts London.
The StART project aimed to enrich the entrepreneurial training provided at the three world-leading institutions via new and enhanced tuition and a range of knowledge exchange activities. These include student workshops, professional placements, mentorships and networking opportunities with partner organisations across the creative industries sector.
The ambition of the StART Entrepreneurship Project was to help students to develop the necessary skills and real-world experience to build successful and sustainable careers, while researching and sharing best practice with the Arts Education sector.
The StART team included the following people:
| RNCM
Hannah McCabe |
RCSSD
Jessica Bowles (Co-Investigator) |
| UAL
Nicola Dunlop |
Advisory Board
Joe Bennett
|
Key outcomes and headlines from the StART Entrepreneurship Project:
- 19,831 hours of student engagement with StART activity
- 3,243 students engaged
- 233 new industry partners
- 798 events
- 213 new materials and toolkits
- Multiple peer-reviewed research publications, invited talks and keynotes, podcasts and conference presentations
Student testimonies:
- ‘I am so grateful for the StART project. The whole programme was invaluable to me and has equipped me with the skills needed to pave my way into a music industry that is so rapidly changing. Without the inspiration from this wonderful scheme, I would have never been able to get to where I am today with my new charity Musicians’ Minds Together’ – 3rd year undergraduate student
- ‘Thank you so much to everyone at the StART project for not only their support over the past couple of years but to listening to us as students and creating a project that allows us to become better creatives. Thank you!’ – Final year undergraduate student
Publications to date
- Pennill, N., Phillips, K., & Phillips, M. (2022). Student experiences and entrepreneurship education in a specialist creative arts HEI: a longitudinal approach. Entrepreneurship Education, 5(4), 399-423.
- Phillips, M., and Podgorski, A., 2023. “Best Practice Considerations for Arts Educators When Developing Intensive Online Courses for Creative Industries Higher Education Students,” FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, in: Joern H. Block & Jantje Halberstadt & Nils Högsdal & Andreas Kuckertz & Helle Neergaard (ed.), Progress in Entrepreneurship Education and Training, pages 183-197, Springer.
- Phillips, M. and McCabe, H. (2022). ‘Socially distanced work experience in a music degree programme’, in: Employability, Enterprise, and Entrepreneurship: Solving Wicked Problems, Advance HE
Online material
RNCM Research Forum by Drs Michelle Phillips, Nicola Pennill and Keith Phillips on research undertaken as part of the StART Entrepreneurship Project
National Centre for Entrepreneurship Education article about entrepreneurship at the RNCM
Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society blog on ‘Harmonising Innovation: The RNCM Shaping Tomorrow’s Musical Entrepreneurs and Changemakers’ (thank you to Prof David Kirby and Dr Felicity Healey-Benson)
Interview with Dr Michelle Phillips following the RNCM winning the THE Outstanding Entrepreneurial University Award 2023: Sound business sense: the entrepreneurial conservatoire teaching Tchaikovsky and tax returns – Royal Northern College of Music (rncm.ac.uk)
