2025 Summer Arts Incubator Week One Update

Igniting Innovation with AI, Arts Entrepreneurship, and Community Action

The energy is electric as we officially launch our third year of participatory arts, cultural, and climate entrepreneurship with the start of our summer mentorship and internship program! This milestone builds on a foundation of groundbreaking research in creative arts and climate entrepreneurship, a journey made possible through the invaluable support of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Creative Entrepreneurship program. Their partnership over the years has been key to incubating innovation and community engagement across Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwestern Ontario and Minnesota, and we’re already seeing a fantastic start to our arts incubator and climate entrepreneurship programming this summer!

Our teams met on June 2nd to start planning and mapping out the next few months of internship and mentorship activities, which will include exploring how AI can be best used for community development. We’re also really focused on training younger community members, building up their skills, and ensuring a smooth transition for future leadership.

Cultural advisors Lucy Eetak (left) and Eva Suluk (right) enjoy a day of drying meat and reconnecting with the land that grounds their knowledge and care, near Arviat, Nunavut. Their collaborative spirit and visible joy highlight the importance of their role in passing on traditional skills and cultural wisdom. — Last week, cultural advisors Lucy Eetak (left) and Eva Suluk (right) enjoyed a day of drying meat and reconnecting with the land that grounds their knowledge and care, near Arviat, Nunavut. Their collaborative spirit and visible joy highlight the importance of their role in passing on traditional skills and cultural wisdom.

A New Horizon with AI: Connecting People and Possibilities

This summer, our focus is shifting to explore the truly transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). From our prior programs, we see AI as a powerful collaborative tool for rapid organizational development and community empowerment, not just a tech gadget. Think of it as having “two heads”: one that’s super helpful for the technical side, like data analysis and report generation, and another that truly helps shape our work with participatory arts, creative enterprise and community building. This dual approach is vital for accelerating capacity building, project transformation and modernization, powering creative and climate entrepreneurship and community-driven initiatives. Activities will also build on research supported by the OpenAI Researcher Access Program over the last year that were presented at the 2024 Arctic Congress in Bodø, Norway, as well as pilot programming supported by Manitoba Agriculture and the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse and Manitoba Arts Council.

This summer, we’ll be learning about the CO-STAR and ECO-STAR methodologies—structured innovation frameworks designed to help artists, creative entrepreneurs and climate changemakers develop clear, credible value propositions. CO-STAR focuses on turning ideas into scalable ventures, while ECO-STAR builds on this by adding a strong emphasis on climate action, nature-positive design, and integrating Indigenous knowledge and value systems. Exploring these methods will help us shape solutions that create real impact for both people and the planet.

Welcoming Krish Agrawal and Growing Together

As we dive into this exciting new iteration, we’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Krish Agrawal, a talented Creative Entrepreneurship student from MCAD, to our team for the summer. Krish will be instrumental in helping us shape the program and really dig into the AI frameworks we’ll be exploring.

Building a Collaborative Future for All

This summer is going to be a period of intense learning, collaboration, innovation and co-creation. A big part of this year’s projects will see us co-developing a flexible, community-centric AI system that can support both individual and group work. This means creating tools that can help with diverse challenges like the arts, climate entrepreneurship, food security, and cultural projects. One of the big goals is to design an adaptable tool that can serve individual communities while integrating into broader regional innovation ecosystems, connecting with communities across Canada, Minnesota and beyond.

We can’t wait to see how this latest AI program helps us build stronger, more resilient communities and further our mission of fostering creative and climate-conscious entrepreneurship. Welcome aboard, Krish!

No fertilizers needed here! Our blueberry patches are bursting with these gorgeous blooms, signaling a healthy and natural growing season. — Our Living Lab and land-based arts activities, food production and sustainable agriculture projects are off to a great start in Northwestern Ontario. We’re all looking forward to picking blueberries, strawberries and blackberries later this summer.

Teams Meet on Monday Mornings

Special thanks go out to Krish Agrawal, Tony Eetak, Kendall Suluk, Maurice Alikut, Eva Suluk, Jamie Bell, Lucy Eetak and Dr. Olaf Kuhlke for supporting our program and its activities.

Want to dive deeper into our work? Our team meets every Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. CST, and we warmly welcome anyone interested in joining the conversation to learn more about our projects and initiatives. It’s a great opportunity to connect, share ideas, and explore how you might get involved. We’d love to have you!

Keep following our journey, keep reading our updates, and stay tuned for more exciting developments as we explore the future of AI and community-driven innovation! Contact us for more information!