Workroom receives grants; student-run startup to launch fall 2013

Workroom — an immersive student project created by assistant professor Dana McMahan that incorporates marketing, design, production and promotion — received a $60,000 grant from the Triad Foundation and an additional $10,000 from the Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation to fund a student-run startup business to launch fall 2013.

The business, Roote, will promote sustainable living by showcasing North Carolina-made organic and natural products. A leadership team consisting of UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and Kenan-Flagler Business School students will operate the startup.

Roote was developed through a joint venture with Burt's Bees Inc., the UNC Hussman School, the business school and the UNC Center for Sustainable Enterprise. McMahan, who directs Workroom, created the project with Pat Garner, an adjunct professor at the business school.

In 2013, Workroom also received a $5,000 grant from the UNC Chancellor's Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to support a joint endeavor with two UNC music professors on a PBS-sponsored project called Beat Making Lab.

The grant allowed a Hussman School student to travel to Suva, Fiji, and document a music lab where local students are taught the art of beat making.

Hussman School senior Jon Kasbe was awarded the film project through a competitive portfolio review. Workroom handled the strategic development and promotion of the project. The film, "Heartbeats of Fiji," can be viewed on PBS Digital Studios and has garnered more 60,000 views.