Young and emerging artists have a new source of inspiration and motivation, thanks to an innovative video series designed to help increase their understanding of the arts and business. The series, which consists of focused, individual interviews with accomplished local artists, launches Jan. 18 online. It is the product of the Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise at Ohio State. Videos will be posted monthly on the Barnett Center website.

The series – called the ARTrepreneur Video Series – is geared to Ohio State students in the arts, and will provide salient points about how they can be successful while sustaining their careers as artists. “We wanted to bring in community artists to span the divide between academia and the community, and to provide a mechanism where artists, students and community members can all come together,” said Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, associate professor and director of the Barnett Center.

This spring semester, videos will feature interviews with:

• Barbara Nicholson, Champagne and Grits Studio and Galleria
• Alexis Wilson, dancer, choreographer and writer; and Byron Stripling, trumpeter and artistic director
• Leticia Vazquez-Smith, Frida Katrina Mexican Folk Art

Other videos will follow in the fall. The series is hosted by Ohio State alumna Melissa Crum (PhD, 2014).

Photo: Local artists Speak Williams and Marshall Shorts will be featured in an upcoming video.