MIT Arts Startup Incubator

Workshops + Mentorship + Funding

Congratulations to the 2026 First Prize Winner: Bench Space

Ten student teams signed up in September for this year’s edition, defining, refining, and shaping their proposals for a viable creative venture. On April 30, five finalist teams presented their five-minute pitches to a four-person panel of expert judges at a public event at the MIT Welcome Center. Bench Space, a platform that connects makers and artists to short-term studio and workshop rentals, took the $15,000 first prize. The four other semifinalist teams received $2,500 each.

The Arts Startup Incubator supports creative entrepreneurship at the Institute, building on the legacy of MIT students turning innovative ideas into successful businesses. The program equips a cohort of students with mentors, resources, and workshops to hone their products, business models, and pitches and compete for a $15,000 prize to launch their business.

This year’s competition runs from January–April 2026 and features events before and during the program period for students to get feedback on their business concepts and build team capacity. Ventures anywhere between idea phase and ready-to-launch apply.

Selected teams are part of a cohort program designed to accelerate arts-focused ventures. All teams receive seed funding and 1:1 mentorship from industry experts, including distinguished faculty, alumni, and creative entrepreneurs as well as access to exclusive classes and workshops that help hone their business models, develop prototypes, and prepare to pitch.

On April 30, finalist teams pitch their ventures to a live panel of judges and compete for the $15K grand prize. All finalist teams receive $2,500 towards their venture.

The $15K Arts Startup Incubator is supported in part by the Council for the Arts at MIT.

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For inquiries or to learn more, contact artsincubator@mit.edu

RSVP!
Final Pitch Event on April 30

Read about the 2025 finalists and winning team!

Criteria and FAQ

Details about eligibility, judging criteria, and common questions.

Info Sessions, Timeline, and Application Process

Apply in the fall semester, develop a business plan over the course of the year, and present a venture to a live judging panel in spring.

Past Recipients

Businesses ranging from online music mentorship to VR for the blind.

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2023-24 MIT Arts Startup Incubator Launch Event

October 4, 2023 at 5-7:30pm | iHQ (E38) 7th Floor Hacker Reactor

Join us for this year’s Arts Startup Incubator kickoff event!

Congratulations to the 2025 First Prize Winner: CRATE

From music platforms to gallery management tools, ten semifinalist teams received mentorship from industry experts as they developed their arts-based ventures. CRATE, a B2B platform that enables gallery owners to better forecast costs before making business decisions, claimed the $15,000 top prize, with four other finalist teams each receiving $2,500 in seed funding

Upcoming Events

May 1, 2024 / 5:00-8:00pm | iHQ (E38) 7th Floor Hacker Reactor

Hear from CreateSafe CEO and Grimes’ manager, DAOuda Leonard, at the MIT Arts Startup Incubator live pitch competition!

Five teams of MIT students present their arts-focused ventures to a panel of expert judges to win $15K. Following their pitches, DAOuda Leonard joins in conversation with an MIT moderator about CreateSafe’s approach to using GenAI as a tool to empower artists and transform the music industry. The event will culminate with the winning team awarded a $15K prize.All finalist teams receive $2,500 towards their venture.

2023 First Prize Winner: Monki Tox

Warm congratulations to Divya Iver SM ’24 and her team, whose venture Monki Tox—an audio storytelling app that helps Indian children connect with their roots—won the $15,000 prize in the 2022-23 competition.

On Wednesday, April 4, 2023, the five finalist teams pitched their ideas to a jury and packed house at the MIT Innovation Headquarters. The remaining four semifinalist teams (Artizen, Embrace, Kino AI, and Oneshoe3D) each received prizes of $2,500.

2022-23 Final Pitch Event

April 4, 2023 | 5:30-8:00pm | iHQ (E38) 7th Floor Hacker Reactor

Five teams compete to win $15,000 to invest in their arts-focused start-up.

Please join us for the final pitch event of the 2022-23 Creative Arts Competition. Months of effort from student teams culminate when five finalist teams present their arts-related ventures to a panel of esteemed adjudicators. While the judges deliberate, the competing teams participate in a Q&A with the audience, the 2022 Competition winner Emma Kaye gives an update on the Cosmosii venture, and refreshments for all attendees are served. After deliberation, a winning team will be announced and the $15,000 prize will be awarded.

Register to attend

Featuring live pitches from the 2023 Finalists:

Artizen

Minnie Fu, MBA ‘24—cofounder
Angel Lam, Purdue ‘22—cofounder
Natcha Sophonpanich, MBA—cofounder

An AI algorithm-based marketplace that provides aspiring art owners with step-by-step guidance to artwork discovery, personalized visual curation and validating insights into the world’s emerging artists.

Embrace

Gabriela Torres, SM ‘23—CEO/cofounder
Chen Huang, SM ‘23—designer/cofounder
Alexandra Rigobon ‘16, MBA ‘22—researcher
Angelica Chincaro, SM ’22—researcher
Carolyn Brazil—advisor

An interactive storytelling platform that uses art therapy to help patients waiting for their first psychotherapy appointment to jump-start their healing process

More information

Kino AI

Wesley Block ‘22—cofounder
Lucas Igel ‘23—cofounder

A platform to help film editors become more efficient and more creative.

More information

Monki Tox

Divya Iyer G, MIT SDM, Founder,
Nandhakumar – App Developer
Afrin Banu – Social Media marketing
Priya Senthil – Story teller
Priya Iyer – Story teller
Karthika Kashyap – Story teller
Anjali – Story teller
Sabarish – Sound engineer

An app that helps Indian children reconnect to their roots by combining culturally-rich Indian stories with contemporary values.

More information

OneShoeThree

Ganit Goldstein – SMArchS Computation Student at MIT Architecture, Researcher at the Self Assembly Lab
Sasha McKinlay – Alumni of MIT Architecture (MArch) 23′, Researcher at the Self Assembly Lab
Thaddeus Lee – Alumni of MIT Architecture (MArch) 23′, Researcher at the Self Assembly Lab

A venture disrupting standardized sizing in footwear to provide personalized footwear for all, whilst minimizing waste, labor, and material complexity in the manufacturing process.

Featuring an update from the 2022 Competition Winner:

Cosmosii

The Etsy of custom goods, Cosmosii enables creators to turn their passion into profit through a community-oriented approach. This SaaS-enabled marketplace helps makers of custom goods find customers and run their business.

More about Cosmosii

IAP Course: How to Talk (and Write About) Your Arts-Based Venture

January 18-24, 2022

This series will help prepare students to present their ventures in writing and discussion in a way that is clear, concise, and compelling. The aim is to help student venture teams succeed in creating their $15K Creative Arts Competition application and equip students to effectively promote their entrepreneurial projects in “pitching” situations.

2020–21 Competition Kick-off Conference

October 25, 2020 / 1:00-3:30pm

Wendy Swart Grossman and Jen Guillemin, co-founders of Creative Re/Frame, present their keynote address, “Bringing Meaning to the Marketplace: Make*Care*Strategize*Implement.” Panel discussion featuring Competition mentors and past winners of the $15K, who share their experiences, successes, and wisdom with us. Panelists include Maria Esteban Casanas and Michael Stradley (Elements, 2020 $15K Winners), Ellen Shakespear (Spaceus, 2018 $15K Second Prize), Nir Hindi (Mentor, Founder of The Artian), and Jon Corbiere (Mentor, CEO of Thought Cafe).

Recording of the Keynote Presentation

Recording of the Panel Discussion

2024 First Prize Winner: Culture Crate

According to a Unesco survey, there are 671 cultural artforms in danger of disappearing during our lifetimes. Nadine Zaza MS and ME ‘25, wants to change that. “The loss of these artforms means the loss of identity, knowledge systems, and economic power in these cultures,” says Zaza, whose team Culture Crate won the $15,000 first prize at the 2024 MIT Arts Startup Incubator finals on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Culture Crate is a hybrid tactile and digital learning platform that brings many of these endangered artforms into the classroom. “Teaching with culturally responsive artforms can boost student engagement, increase empathy, and help transform cultural loss into cultural value.”

Culture Crate designs and markets kits containing art and craft materials linked to a specific region and artform. The kits are supported with online lesson plans and resources. One current kit includes materials for artisanal soap making in the Arab world. Other kits, soon to be released, feature a board game played in ancient Mesopotamia, and materials for tatreez, a traditional Palestinian form of embroidery. “We intend to expand across a wide range of artforms and cultures,” says Zaza. “But right now we are particularly interested in underrepresented and misunderstood cultures and people.”