{"id":9202,"date":"2023-03-08T09:20:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T15:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9202"},"modified":"2023-03-08T09:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T15:20:50","slug":"the-art-of-the-pitch-and-pitching-art","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/the-art-of-the-pitch-and-pitching-art\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of the pitch \u2014 and pitching art"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Emma Siskoff, an art major from New Berlin, is shown with her painting, \u201cComforts of My Home,\u201d a composition including her 94-year-old grandmother\u2019s guitar and sunflowers, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. (UW-Whitewater photo\/Craig Schreiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While seemingly an unlikely mix, the arts and business can come together to create a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students showcased this in two business-related pitch contests this fall.<\/p>\n

Emma Siskoff, an\u00a0art major<\/a>\u00a0from New Berlin, said creativity is her first and foremost passion as she pursues her options after graduating from UW-Whitewater. But so, too, is entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

That secondary passion blossomed in October when Siskoff was a winner in the\u00a0Self-Employment in the Arts<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 or SEA \u2014 pitch contest, held in conjunction with the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization, or CEO.<\/p>\n

Siskoff, who aspires to create custom works for customers, was one of a handful of artists who pitched at this fall\u2019s SEA national conference in Chicago. She has established a business, Emma Siskoff Art, and\u00a0recently launched a website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am most fond of painting and enjoy the quickness in which I can see progress made,\u201d Siskoff said. \u201cMy goal is to make murals for small businesses and homeowners, as well as canvas paintings for individuals. I am focused on being personal with my customers and making art that is extremely individualized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Matthews, a senior lecturer in UW-Whitewater\u2019s\u00a0College of Business and Economics<\/a>, has been striving to prove the phrase \u201cstarving artist\u201d a misnomer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phrase I use a lot is, \u2018You have a passion, let\u2019s take it to action,\u2019\u201d Matthews said. \u201cLet\u2019s do something with this. Don\u2019t just get a degree in it and then think you can\u2019t make a living at it, because you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews made an overture to students in the\u00a0College of Art and Communications<\/a>\u00a0to consider the SEA conference as an opportunity to pitch potential business ideas. Siskoff said the offer sparked inspiration.<\/p>\n

On campus and nationally, SEA and CEO have been strengthening bonds with one.<\/p>\n

William Dougan, a professor of management, said there is a natural thread between the two groups, particularly considering the distinct skill sets the students can possess.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certainly examples of artists that have done extremely well with their art,\u201d Dougan said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that precludes the success of the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Six student entrepreneurs competed for $3,000 in prizes to grow their young businesses at the Warhawk Business Plan Competition at the Whitewater Innovation Center on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The event was organized by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs\u2019 Organization (CEO). From left, contest winners Hayden Pauls, Menomonee Falls, third place; Chad Tjugum, Sun Prairie, first place; and Kara Zamora, Mount Pleasant, second place. All are entrepreneurship majors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UW-Whitewater\u2019s CEO chapter<\/a>, which has a long history of success with pitch contests, excelled again at the October conference. Students from about 250 chapters throughout the world take part in CEO\u2019s contest, with more than 600 students within the U.S. competing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe annual contest is done as a way to provide students with incentives to develop their business ideas,\u201d Dougan said.<\/p>\n

Chad Tjugum and Hayden Pauls, who both are part of the university\u2019s CEO chapter, competed in the top 100 global contest this fall. Tjugum, who won UW-Whitewater\u2019s chapter contest, took second place in the global contest.<\/p>\n

The sophomore from Sun Prairie, an\u00a0entrepreneurship major<\/a>, has been developing business concepts related to the rare coin market. Tjugum has sold more than 2,600 rare coins through an eBay store, SeventyCoin, that he established in 2016.<\/p>\n

Pitching his latest venture, RaritiesMarket Inc., earned him the strong second-place showing at the global contest. RaritiesMarket serves as an investment platform for people looking to take partial ownership in rare, high-value coins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea was pretty novel, so having that validation really helped with my confidence,\u201d Tjugum said. \u201cIt was a great experience, all the way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference was an invaluable experience far beyond his second-place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have high expectations for myself. I would\u2019ve loved to have won first place, but (the first-place recipients) really deserved it,\u201d Tjugum said. \u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m proud to have come in second. There were a lot of really good business ideas, so it was very validating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dougan said Tjugum\u2019s strong performance builds on the legacy of the university\u2019s CEO chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a track record of producing ideas that do well,\u201d Dougan said. \u201cWe\u2019re considered one of the more elite chapters by the national organization. They certainly know us, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Dave Fidlin | Photos by\u00a0Craig Schreiner<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uww.edu\/news\/archive\/2023-02-pitch-contest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While seemingly an unlikely mix, the arts and business can come together to create a masterpiece. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students showcased this in two business-related pitch contests this fall. Emma Siskoff, an\u00a0art major\u00a0from New Berlin, said creativity is her first and foremost passion as she pursues her options after graduating from UW-Whitewater. But so, too, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[84],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-9202","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-whitewater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/9202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=9202"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=9202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}