Catherine Bickford

Bio: Catherine Bickford is an Emmy award television producer who launched Artascope Playworks, LLC in 2000. In 2008 Catherine was invited to participate in the VC 101 program at the Center for Women & Enterprise in Boston where she began to refine her revenue model and develop her strategy for growth. At the culmination of this six-month course, Catherine was asked to present her company at the CWE annual Access to Capital event at MIT in Cambridge. In 2009, Catherine was awarded a MTI seed grant to conduct market research. She was also one of thirty awarded a “Partners of the Americas” fellowship in community development sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation during which she traveled throughout the US, South America, and Caribbean over the course of three years to complete her Fellowship.

Description of company: Artascope Studios develops and markets Art Night Out™ “art party” workshops and workshop kits, uniquely selling its “product development sessions” as “art workshops”. Initially begun as “do–it-yourself" craft kits, in 2003 the product testing sessions turned into a product in-itself. The South Portland studio is now a complete research and development facility with five separate studio rooms each with its own media focus. The line of Art Night Out™ consumer products (workshops, workshop kits, tools, materials, and instruction) are sold in three tiers: direct to consumer, distributed through a network of licensed consultants, and merchandised and sold through licensed studios. In addition to Art Night Out™, the company has developed Artist Series (Six Session Art Workshops), Artescape (Weekend Intensives), and a studio membership program. The Company now seeks to develop a social networking site delivering the Art Night Out formula online: a global “virtual studio” where participants can contribute from anywhere.