The Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship

In 2010, The Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies (CGP) at the State University of New York created the annual Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICE). The goal of ICE is to offer affordable leadership training to arts and culture professionals, focusing on teaching and practicing the principles of entrepreneurship and serving as a catalyst and ongoing resource to challenge traditional models of nonprofit work in innovative, creative, and sustainable ways.

The program was developed in response to a rapidly changing environment in the nonprofit field characterized by changing demographics, increasingly sophisticated audiences, the need for continued relevancy and ever-changing business and programmatic challenges to leadership. This annual conference challenges mid-career professionals to look at their organizations in new ways by finding innovative approaches to meet institutional needs.