Fineline is a marketplace connecting local artists with buyers, offering a platform to sell meaningful art that transforms homes. Tracing their roots back to 2021, OCAD University, supported by the Future Skills Centre, launched Fineline—an art marketplace and co-operative designed to help artists and designers grow their online businesses while developing cultural entrepreneurship skills. Shaped collaboratively by creatives, the initiative fosters co-ownership, co-governance, and peer-to-peer support among its members.
Established in 2013, OCAD U's RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) supports the early-career growth of students and recent alumni. Through Career Development, Experiential Learning, and Creative Entrepreneurship programs, CEAD connects individuals to opportunities, skill-building resources, practitioner communities, and learning experiences.
Based on insights from Fineline workshops in early 2022, CEAD developed a project plan for the Learning Community with three key goals: fostering a supportive community of creative entrepreneurs, creating pathways for future entrepreneurs to join the Fineline community, and developing valuable learning resources, including live sessions for current participants and online content for future use on the Fineline learning hub. The activities focused on addressing key gaps in business skills among creative entrepreneurs, while fostering networking, community building, and mentorship opportunities. These efforts shaped the three core components of Fineline’s Learning Community: Speaker Series, Peer-to-Peer, and Community.
This report highlights the activities of the Fineline Learning Community, hosted by OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and supported by Fineline, during events held from October 2022 to September 2023. It showcases the significant impact of Fineline’s learning and upskilling programs on OCAD University students and alumni, emphasizing the value of these initiatives in fostering growth and professional development.
The data for this report was collected by CEAD during various events and compiled into Excel for analysis. As part of the CEAD team, I was responsible for cleaning and organizing the dataset, leveraging advanced Excel functions and data validation to ensure accuracy and consistency. The team and I then performed data analysis to find insights, identify trends, and provide a clear understanding of the impact of the programs.
The data visualizations are crafted with simplicity in mind, ensuring readers can easily grasp the insights at a glance. A palette of vibrant, vivid colors brings the bold energy of entrepreneurship to life, while evoking the warmth of the summer community that inspired this work. This dynamic presentation is further enhanced by beautiful, whimsical illustrations by illustrator and artist Vincy Lim, adding a touch of creativity and charm. The writing is kept crisp and concise, allowing the visual stories, illustrations, and the impact behind the numbers to shine brightly.
