Are you aspiring to thrive as an independent creative professional or to launch your creative practice? The creative industries serve as catalysts for economic growth and cultural enrichment, driving innovation, talent development, and shaping societal perceptions. Spanning the arts, architecture and design, media, urban development, and more, they impact every aspect of our lives. This half-semester course offers prospective professionals in creative disciplines fundamental tools and strategies for building their careers as independent professionals or small business owners. Creating a sustainable business in the creative and cultural sectors requires a balance between meeting market needs, maintaining creative freedom, and offering resource-based and market-oriented products or services. In this course, students will: A) Gain an understanding of key theoretical concepts and practical applications through real-world case studies, enabling them to launch and manage creative micro-ventures; B) Explore relevant business models within the creative industries and learn skills needed to adapt and thrive in various market landscapes; C) Learn how to navigate the complexities of the creative economy and design an impactful creative career.

Instructors: Giuliano Picchi & Svafa Grönfeldt

In an AI-enhanced future, humans will become better at everything. The machine targets real-world artificial intelligence challenges designed to help address issues related to climate change, and urbanization in cities. X Machine is an accelerator workshop designed to bring computer science and architecture together to create the most innovative and impactful technology solutions. The program’s aim is to provide mentorship and technical support, with a focus on the problem statement and early-stage technology design ideation.

Instructor: Norhan Bayomi

While design is frequently deployed as a problem-solving instrument, it can unintentionally result in ethical dilemmas and unanticipated outcomes. This course uniquely combines the critical lens of art with the transdisciplinary framework of DesignX, promoting introspection and thoughtful deliberation before diving into design solutions. This class initiates a collaboration between ACT and the Morningside Academy of Design through DesignX. Students engage with a transdisciplinary ensemble of influential speakers. The lecture series also allow students to innovate and explore a social impact design.

Instructors: Azra Aksamija, Svafa Gronfeldt, Yvette Man-yi Kong

The scope and intensity of opportunities and challenges facing the human habitat calls for the discovery of new transdisciplinary solutions. This half semester course will introduce you to the transformative power of design innovation and entrepreneurship. Through experiential learning in a workshop setting, you will start to develop the skillset and the mindset of an entrepreneur. The leadership skills and curiosity of the entrepreneurial mind are qualities that are highly sought after across all industries and throughout the startup space. An entrepreneur in the built environment is expected to identify problems and opportunities that will improve the human condition, and develop an effective solution for them. We will focus on framing a problem (before solving one) in order to understand the needs of people who experience them. This process will include interviews, data collection and analytical observation. You will identify real problems and then work in teams to determine their scope and begin to develop a solution. Teams will create new venture proposals for the built environment as a method to understand the role of the entrepreneur in the fields of design, planning, construction, real estate, transportation and other related industries.

Instructors: Svafa Grönfeldt and Gilad Rosenzweig