Text: Hilde Gretland Andersen and Mellina Villanueva / Untold Editorial
It can be tough for budding entrepreneurs to know who and where to go with their many questions. How do you begin to create your own business or get in touch with like-minded potential partners to get the project running? Are there grants?
Or what about a place to say out loud “Hey! You want to make something amazing together!?” without going through a million different channels first?
Well, now there is. The very first Artup Day attracted a large crowd of new and old creative industry entrepreneurs and influencers to Kulturhuset, in the heart of Oslo.
“I mean, where do you even start? It’s not easy if you are a startup or just a new, creative person in town,” says Marianne Welle, head of The Big O project, which hosted the event. “So we invited different types of agencies and people to this event so that startups and newcomers could come face to face with some of the most experienced people in the industry and ask any type of question they wanted.»
Let’s get together
The Big O is a collaboration between some of Oslo´s leading artists and institutions, working together to spread the word about Oslo´s culture life, under the auspices of Oslo Business Region. Artup Day is a creative industry spinoff of Oslo Business Region’s well-known Startup Day events, where entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to speed date and pitch with potential investors, business partners and other startups in search of like-minded people.
As startup events can tend to be tech focused, Marianne Welle thought it would be helpful to arrange an Artup Day for creative and cultural entrepreneurs.
She certainly struck a nerve. Kulturhuset was packed with people who got busy networking, pitching and listening as entrepreneurs pitched back their own ideas from stage.
The Vice Mayor for Culture and Sport, Rina Mariann Hansen, talked about Oslo’s soon-to-be-launched event strategy. Entrepreneurs Runar Eggesvik (Mono, Internasjonalen, Øya and Kulturhuset), Marte Strand (Happy Projects), and Erlend Mogård Larsen (by:Larm, Salt, Vippa, Træna) shared their experiences.
Participating entrepreneurs speed dated with The Agency for Cultural Affairs, The Urban Environment Agency, the bank DNB, Carfree City Center, the Planning and Building Services, the European green Capital 2019 organization and event management agency Kløkt.
Marianne Welle was very pleased with the start: “It was a success and we had some great feedback. It was packed with people who really seemed to enjoy the event.”
Follow this space for updates on the next Artup Day.
The article writers are part of Untold Editorial, a student run content agency.