Catapult Creative House — Southeast Missouri State University’s creative arts and industries incubator at 612 S. Broadway — will open its doors May 1 providing a mechanism to drive the entrepreneurial mind-set of today’s students.
Leah Powers, Operations Manager of Catapult Creative House, describes it as a student learning labs incubator.
“It’s a space that students from all disciplines within the university can learn how to be an entrepreneur and do their own business.”
Powers detailed all the of areas within the 12,312 square foot facility. Catapult includes a gallery space, retail space, a letterpress print shop and a beverage bar and snack space.
“We have art studio labs, we have a photography booth, a spray booth, some sewing studios as well as a couple of meeting spaces.”
The name catapult was chosen because it doesn’t brand the venture to any particular area of business. Powers says that the venture can be thought of as a launching pad for students. The name is unique and the project is very different from anything other universities have tried.
Powers said the hope is that students will learn all of the “behind the scenes” pieces in running a business. They will learn how to sell their art and how to set up a new menu at a beverage bar.
“In the studio aspect, they get to have their own studio space and work toward some of their own projects and portfolios. [They will also] learn how to collaborate between other disciplines and departments and to interact with the community as a business.”
The community has an important role to play in the success of catapult according to Powers. Community members can make purchases from the beverage bar and the retail space and the gallery space.
“They can also attempt to sell products in the gallery by having their artwork on display by applying to the gallery. They can also learn how to use the letterpress or if they don’t want to learn how to use the letterpress, they could have a student do the letterpress for them and have a project like invitations or posters or really cool business cards.”
In addition, visiting artists and community members can apply to use the studio space in the facility. There will be a photo booth where community members will work with the students and be a client to get photos taken as well. Plus there is an embroidery machine available that community members can learn how to use.
Catapult Creative House will hold a soft opening on Friday, May 1 from 5 - 9 p.m. as part of the First Friday with the Arts in Downtown Cape Girardeau. Everyone is invited to attend and to take tours of the building.
