Yellow sunlight filled the room from a window facing downtown Syracuse, and inspirational posters hung on brick walls surrounding a set of cozy blue sofas. A table filled with soft drinks and pizza welcomed event attendees on the fourth floor of The Warehouse, the location of Studio C’s latest meeting.

With its spirit of “collaborate, create and change,” Studio C hosted the event “Pizza, Inspiration and Ideation: Food for the Creative Mind” at 3 p.m. on Friday. It provided a place for students interested in civic engagement and social entrepreneurship to generate ideas and gain access to networking connections from the local community.

“It is not only about creating businesses, but also increasing public good in some way,” said Chris Guimarin, a junior communications design major.

Guimarin and Quinton Fletchall, a senior industrial and interaction design major, organized the event with assistance from Caitlin Moriarty, a graduate in the Janklow Arts Leadership Program.

The event focused on how to increase nonprofit social ventures on campus and enhance the interaction between campus and the local community. The idea behind the event came across the minds of Guimarin and Fletchall earlier this semester.

Studio C, currently a concept, is also a physical space in the works of being prepared. The studio will be a room equipped with ample creative space, along with a white board and digitized screen for people to collaborate. It will be located in the Design Warehouse Gallery on East Genesee Street.

The room is being loosely modeled off of the design of another space, Thinklab, also located in The Warehouse. Thinklab is another area dedicated to entrepreneurial collaboration, though with a slightly more technology-based focus than Studio C. Members of Studio C have been welcomed to use the Thinklab space while their own is being set up.

Guimarin is an IDEA connector. IDEA, or Innovation and Disruptive Entrepreneurship Accelerator, is a group dedicated to promoting communication and collaboration between students from different colleges on campus and of different creative backgrounds.

When students come to IDEA with an idea for an entrepreneurship venture, IDEA connectors send them to the best resources to follow through with their venture.

The way Guimarin imagines the relationship between the two projects will work is when students come to IDEA pitching an idea relating to Syracuse and civic good, he can send them to Studio C.

Guimarin said Friday’s event was meant to break down barriers to help students engage with entrepreneurship, but instead of only engaging with on-campus issues, this project is more about the local community.

“We created these workshops to engage students with the community and see where the possible areas of collaboration could happen and possibilities of new projects and social ventures,” said Guimarin.

Students, faculty members and event speakers mingled. Even though only one student team attended the event, the discussion was full of engaging, creative insight, with ideas bouncing around the table. Occasional laughter burst out.

Linda Hartsock, director of the Office of Community Engagement and Economic Development, helped Guimarin and Fletchall put the idea into practice.

Hartsock said the event is about connecting people and building a community, more specifically how to reach SU students to connect and motivate them.

“What we want is to find students who are genuinely and truly interested in the idea of building community through engagement and advancing public good through public interest and design,” Hartsock said. “It’s about making a difference in the world.”

Fletchall said their projects will not stop at conversation. The studio will also help students execute ideas.

Two speakers at the afternoon event were Michael Rotella and Michael Heagerty, representing the community-driven ventures SyracuseGuru.com and NoexcusesSYR, respectively. The two groups represented professionals with potential projects from Studio C, groups who want to build a dynamic community with positive images.

Rotella, the founder of SyracuseGuru.com, graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in English in 2011. Since graduation, he said he has been fully devoting himself into pushing local business.

Rotella was born and raised in Syracuse, and hopes the success of his project can get people more excited about his home city.

Like Rotella, Heagerty is also interested in writing about places such as restaurants, local developments and events happening in Syracuse through social media.

With insight about the city, Heagerty organized customized local tours to help people get to know Syracuse better.

Heagerty is aware of the fact many people in the Syracuse area, specifically students, are only aware of the social opportunities held around the Marshall Street area. Heagerty hopes to educate people in a way that will enlighten them about other options.

Eddie Zaremba, a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major, and his teammate Marissa Donovan, a senior nutrition major, explained their idea at the event.

They are working on a project called “Recipe for Success,” which combines business skills and nutrition education. Donovan said it promotes healthy eating habits among middle and high school students, and teaches them entrepreneurship skills at the same time.

“We’re connecting with entrepreneurship people because we’re looking to grow our team, for one, and we’re also looking to network,” Zaremba said. “If there is someone else that’s involved with a similar project and has certain connections or might help us better understand what we’re working on, maybe this is the place that we’ll find somebody.”

Published on February 18, 2013 at 12:30 am

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