Celebrate entrepreneurship, cultivate creativity, and drive high-impact innovation at Maine Startup & Create Week, June 20-26, 2016.

David Hutchins '87, an effects animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios, talks about “Branding through Storytelling.”

Hutchins has worked on many major films and was an effects supervisor on Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, an animated feature nominated for an Oscar in 2013. He was also part of the team who worked on Frozen, which received a 2014 Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Most recently he has worked on Big Hero 6, Frozen Fever, and Moana (release date in the fall of 2016).

At Maine College of Art & Design, the art of creative entrepreneurship is one of our core values. We provide each student the necessary professional skills to transform aspirations and values into a creative practice.

Maine Startup & Create Week brings a week of learning, interviews with leaders, hands-on workshops, and social events all focused on creative entrepreneurship and community leadership.

“The speakers, including two startup founders with Maine ties, were picked to help encourage Maine residents who want to develop high-growth, high-impact companies to flourish in a state that is geared toward more traditional small-business models, said event founder Jess Knox, a Portland-based business consultant. Mainers excel at launching small businesses, and hard work, but often lack the opportunity to hear from people ‘who have big aspirations to grow a world-class company,’ Knox said.” — Penelope Overton, Portland Press Herald

To learn more about the schedule of events, or to buy tickets, click here. Through the end of the month, tickets are available for $400 for the week; $150 for a day; and $15 to hear a keynote speaker during lunch (which can be purchased for an additional $20). Tickets to all five lunches cost $60.